


Moving Forward

by Bittie752



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fob watched Doctor, Human Nature redo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-12
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2017-12-29 05:47:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 65,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1001729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittie752/pseuds/Bittie752
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been years since Rose faced heartbreak and did what she had to do, leave the one person she thought she would be with forever behind. Now faced with an impossible situation, her heart and the hearts of the people she loves are on the line once more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The poetry quotes come from Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. Thanks to my lovely beta IncurableRomantic and to my friends who have been cheering me on in this. I love and appreciate you all! If it's not obvious by now, I ship Doctor/Rose and they are always my end game.

_**Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,** _

_**And sorry I could not travel both** _

Change was never easy and sometimes it was incredibly painful, even if you knew deep down in your soul that it was what you needed to do. Rose's fingers caressed the coral strut as she watched the Doctor fly around the console for possibly the last time. Mickey sat on the jump seat as oblivious as the Doctor as to what was about to happen. She had asked him to take her back to London but he still didn't know why, and as much as she hated to trick him she wasn't going to tell him until after she was back on the Estate. He grinned over at her, and she looked away. Her determination to do this was tentative at best.

It was the right decision, one that she had spent the better part of this week debating. Staying versus leaving, allowing herself to fall deeper in love with a man who not only obviously didn't want her but had taken her, her life and the life of her best friend for granted. She watched the Doctor, wanting to make sure that he would bounce back after the death of a woman he had loved so completely that everything else fell by the wayside.

To her it had seemed like his mourning Reinette lasted a pitiful amount of time. In fact he hadn't mentioned her after they left the spaceship. If anything, his disregard for the King's mistress made her pity the woman. How would she feel if she could see how fast the man who had supposedly loved her so deeply was over her in the blink of an eye?

Between Reinette and Sarah Jane, Rose had learned the hard way that a Time Lord, this Time Lord, didn't value emotional attachments the way that humans did. None of that made it any easier knowing that he had broken his promise to never leave her. And that broken trust was why she had to leave. She knew that he would bounce back. He was the Doctor and he would move on, find another little ape to show the Universe to. Hopefully, they didn't fall in love with him the way that she'd done. The Doctor needed a mate, not someone who could convince themselves that they were special when they weren't.

There was a small thud as the ship landed. "Goodbye, old girl. I'll miss you most of all," she whispered softly before bounding down the ramp. Turning towards the Doctor, she pasted a fake smile on her face. "So Earth, London, Powell Estate, a few weeks after meeting Sarah Jane, yeah?" She backed towards the door as he came to join her.

"Yep," he popped the "p" as he pulled on his long brown coat. "In time for tea with Jackie. Just like you asked, your wish is as always, my command."

Her smile faltered. "Yes, thank you." As quick as she could she grabbed her knapsack and bolted out the door. She was several meters away when she stopped and turned back around, refusing to give into the stinging wetness in her eyes.

"You didn't say it was laundry day." He came up beside her, trying to take her hand, but she shoved them both into her pockets. Raising an eyebrow, he gave her a quizzical look before speaking again. "I would have landed earlier so we didn't stay too late. You know how your mother gets if we're here too late."

"Doctor, it's not laundry day." She closed her eyes. This was it, the moment that she was going to say goodbye.

His brow furrowed as he studied her. "I don't understand." Mickey came up behind the Doctor but Rose ignored him.

Letting out a long slow breath, she pasted the smile back on her face. "This is goodbye Doctor. I think it's time, and I hope you understand. Goodbye, and thank you for everything." Shock was evident on his face and she waited a beat for him to say goodbye when he didn't she turned around. "See ya."

A moment later, he grabbed her arm and turned her around. "Wait, Rose. Why?" The pained look on his face and his puppy dog eyes were almost enough to break her resolve.

Almost.

Steeling herself once more, she spoke. "After everything that's happened in the last week, do you even have to ask? Sarah Jane, Reinette, Mickey and me almost dying while you shagged your way through Paris."

"I never did anything with her."

"Right," Rose scoffed. "Doesn't really matter though, does it? You showed me my place, and I just didn't want to accept it then. I should have left when you invited Mickey on board. I was gonna, but Sarah Jane talked me out of it."

"What are you talking about? Your place? I don't understand." His eyes were pleading. "Why would you want to leave me?"

Taking a calming breath, she stared him straight in the eyes. It was time to tell him the whole truth. "Look, you needed me before, when you had lost all of your people, all of your family. You told me they were all gone, but you were never really alone. I bet you have hundreds of friends across the Universe. I held your hand when you felt alone, but you're not anymore. You can make new friends." She swallowed and waved a hand up and down his body. "This new you is happier and more friendly, flirty; ladies love you. I'm sure you'll find another assistant in no time. I need to move on with my life. I can't just have you drop me off in a year or two when the new, shiny, more sophisticated, more intelligent girl shows up and snags your attention. I deserve better than that."

"Rose, I don't want anyone else; I want you." He grabbed her hand in his and clutched it tightly. "I promised that you can spend the rest of your life with me, and I meant it. I won't just drop you off one day. Not you. Please believe that I won't leave you."

She pulled her hand away and bit back a sob. He means it in the moment, she told herself. It's a promise that he knows that he can't and won't keep. "But you already did. You jumped through a time window when you knew you had no real shot at coming back."

"But I did come back, and I wasn't even gone that long." He grabbed at her hand again, and she dodged him.

"You got lucky." Her tone was accusatory now.

"I would have found a way back to you. I would have caught a ride with one of my former or future selves. You have to believe me."

One shot: that's what he always gave everyone, and that's what she would give him. "I'll tell you what Doctor I'll stay, if…."

A wide grin formed on his face. He looked relieved and joyful. "You'll stay."

"I'll stay if you can tell me the name of the ship that you stranded me, Mickey and your beloved ship on."

His face fell. He didn't know, and she could tell the moment it hit him just how lucky he had been to find a working window. Blundering into danger with no plan had almost cost him the last part of his home planet he had left, and it had just cost him his best friend.

"That's what I thought. You never knew, did you?"

"I'm so sorry, Rose. Let me make it up to you." He stepped closer, and she stepped back and shook her head.

"Tell you what, Doctor; make it up to me by having a fantastic life. Because that's exactly what I'm gonna do." She took off running, not stopping when she heard him calling her name or when she heard Mickey yelling at him to let her go. No turning back now.

_**Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,** _

_**I took the one less traveled by,** _

_**And that has made all the difference.** _

**~oOo~**

**Ten Years Later**

Rose snuggled deeper under her duvet. Sinking deeper into sleep, she began to dream. Most of her dreams these last few years had been mundane, but occasionally she dreamed of apple grass or frozen waves. There was wistfulness deep down inside of her for what could have been. Rose rolled over; at least the nightmares had stopped.

A keening metal-on-metal noise, one that she hadn't heard in a decade, suddenly cut through the silence of the house. Rose bolted upright. "Shit."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **October, 2016- Silver Springs, Colorado**

Rose snuggled deeper under her duvet. autumn nights in the Rocky Mountains tended to get more than a bit chilly. But between her flannel jimjams, the pellet stove in the corner of her room and the thick down comforter encasing her, she was warm enough to drift off peacefully. Outside a light snow began to fall, by the morning there would be a light dusting on the ground.

Sinking deeper into sleep, Rose began to dream. Most of her dreams these last few years had been mundane, but occasionally she dreamed of apple grass or frozen waves. There was wistfulness deep down inside of her for what could have been. Rose rolled over; at least the nightmares had stopped.

A keening metal on metal noise, one that she hadn't heard in a decade, suddenly cut through the silence of the house. Rose bolted upright. "Shit," she muttered, throwing off the duvet. Even after all this time she would know that sound anywhere. Grabbing her dressing gown, she ran towards the source of the noise, down a flight of stairs through the kitchen and into the basement.

Standing tall at the bottom of the stairs was the TARDIS. Rose's heart skipped a beat. It had been far too long since she had seen the old girl. Oh, how she had missed the sentient ship. But why was she here? The Doctor had been staying on the periphery of her life since she had left. Why now? Why hadn't he bounded out of the ship yet? Was he alright?

She was just about to run upstairs and find her key when the door creaked open. Hesitating for a moment, Rose waited to see if the Doctor stepped out. When he didn't, she walked over and pushed at the door, letting it fly wide open.

Lying face down on the grating in front of the console was the Doctor. Her eyes went wide, and she rushed to his side. "Doctor, are you alright?" She rolled him over and pressed an ear to his chest. His breathing sounded normal, but something was off. One heartbeat, she only heard one heartbeat.

"Oh God. Are you sick? Are you regenerating? What do I do? Help me?" She was prepared to drag him to the infirmary when his voice filled the air.

 _"Hello!"_ She looked up at the monitor to see his face smiling back at her. _"I'm sorry for the impromptu visit, but I asked the TARDIS to seek out one of my former companions because I need your help."_

Of course he did, Rose thought, pulling her dressing gown tighter around her. It would be just like him to drop in after such a long time apart and ask for a favor. Completely and utterly rude, the Doctor was. Oh, there was no doubt she would help. Even now she knew that she wouldn't be able to turn down a request to help him.

 _"I ran into a spot of bother with a group called the Family of Blood. Rubbish name, I know. They are like mayflies. Let them alone long enough and they die off. If that's the case, then why am I here you may ask. Well…"_ On screen, the Doctor tugged on his ear. _"See, they're after me and if they get ahold of a Time Lord they could live forever, spreading destruction across the Universe. And we wouldn't want that."_ He laughed. _"So I had to do something that I thought I would never have to do. I turned myself human."_

Rose felt like someone had punched her in the gut. What? How?

_"There should be a fob watch nearby. Guard it carefully; it contains everything that makes me, well, me. The TARDIS will construct a backstory and implant false memories. She probably will also have a bag packed in the wardrobe for me. Maybe some papers and such, too. I don't really know what she'll do but as brilliant as she is, I'm sure she'll have thought of everything. Oh, and there should be enough residual memory for me to allow you, whichever you the TARDIS picked, into my life. In three months you can open the watch, and I'll be back to my normal debonair self."_

He took a deep breath, and his smile faltered _. "Rose, if the TARDIS brought me to you…"_ The playback stuttered and the screen froze.

She hit the screen a couple of times, but the playback refused to start again. Her eyes narrowed at the time rotor. "Any particular reason you don't want me to see that?" As expected, the ship didn't respond; she simply illuminated the corridor leading to the wardrobe room.

It did not escape Rose's attention that the TARDIS had moved her old room next to the wardrobe. As her fingers traced the intricately carved rose on the door she resisted the impulse to enter. When she had packed to leave she had left very little behind, so now it wouldn't look like her room anymore. She didn't want to ruin the memory she had of that room and the great times she had there by seeing it now.

Moving forward she entered the wardrobe and, true to the Doctor's prediction, there were several packed bags waiting for her. A large rolling suitcase, a stuffed rucksack and a computer bag were lying in a neat pile. On top of that was a folded pair of jeans, a jumper, a thick winter jacket, a wallet, keys and a manila envelope filled with papers.

"You better not expect me to change him." Rose shook her head and gave a stern look at the ceiling. The tone of the humming turned to something that sounded like giggling. Apparently the TARDIS found that amusing. Well, she'd changed him at Christmas all those years ago. What was one more time? Especially now that things were vastly different between them, Rose doubted she'd be nearly as affected as she had been way back then.

She picked up the keys and turned them over in her hand. There looked to be a house key and a car key, a Land Rover according to the key fob. How did the TARDIS manage this? Curiosity took over, and she rifled through the wallet and envelope. There was cash and some credit cards. Most of the papers were official looking papers: visa, passport, birth certificate, all in the name of John Smith. There were also lease papers on one of those fully furnished flats at the condos down the street.

Rose wrinkled her nose at the thought of the Doctor living there. When she first arrived here she'd stayed in one for a week before her furniture arrived. The flats were small and mostly used as weekly rentals for people who couldn't afford to stay at the resort during ski season or rented by hikers who didn't stay in them much during the summer. His whole place would fit in her lounge. Cold, dingy with only a kitchenette and a stall shower, the Doctor would hate it. The walls would feel like they were closing in on him in no time.

But it wasn't going to be the Doctor staying there. It wasn't going to be the Doctor that would be living here in her town, her refuse from the outside world. No, John Smith, a stranger who would have no clue who Rose Tyler was who would be living here.

Putting everything back in its place, Rose carefully hauled the luggage back through the ship and upstairs. It took her two trips, and when she came back to haul the Doctor upstairs she grabbed the pocket watch from where it lay on the ground near him. When her fingers wrapped around it, she heard his voice in her head.

_Rose._

It slipped through her grasp and landed on the grating with an echoing clunk. Ok, that was weird, she thought, picking it back up by the chain and slipping into the pocket of her dressing gown. He had said that the watch contained his essence or whatever, and she knew that he was telepathic so it was possible that the him in the watch was trying to communicate with her. At a bare minimum she supposed that the Doctor was aware of her presence.

Still not sure what to think of this whole situation, she lugged the last of the Time Lords up the stairs. "Blimey, for a skinny bloke you aint half heavy." It took a few minutes and a couple of potentially bruised shins and maybe a bump to the head on his part, but Rose managed to maneuver him onto her sofa.

Quickly, she changed him into the clothes that the TARDIS had provided. It was probably for the best that he didn't wake up and accidentally find his sonic screwdriver or dimensionally transcendent pockets. She placed one of the sofa cushions behind his head and covered him with a one of the blankets she kept lying around for chilly nights. He looked so peaceful lying there sleeping. During her time traveling with him, she had rarely seen him sleep other than right after his regeneration. And on the occasions that he actually did sleep they were usually cuddled in the media room together or once in a while in her bed. Those latter times were only after one of them had had a nightmare and needed comfort.

The Doctor stirred slightly and hugged the blanket closer to him. Checking the clock, Rose noticed it was already half five. She wondered how long he would be sleeping before he woke up in a strange place on a stranger's couch. Letting out a slow breath, she ruminated on that. A stranger, that's how he would see her. Maybe that would be for the best. She could keep an eye on him from a distance.

There was work to be done before he woke up. Carefully, she folded his suit and stuck it in the hall closet. There would be time to stow it in the TARDIS later. She also checked out the window and saw a dark blue Land Rover parked a little ways down the street. With a press of a button she discovered that the keys that the TARDIS had left were indeed for that vehicle.

A plan was beginning to form in her head. She threw on a coat and a pair of shoes and hauled his luggage outside and stacked it in the back of the Land Rover. She tucked the envelope of papers into the computer bag. On her way back inside, she almost lost her footing on a small patch of ice. At this time of year early morning ice was uncommon but not unheard of, and this morning it would be surprisingly helpful.

She checked on the Doctor who was still sleeping soundly before going upstairs to change. On her way she grabbed a photo off one of the side tables. It was one of her and the Doctor at Christmas soon after his regeneration. Even though she didn't think that he would be in her house for very long she didn't want to take any chances.

A familiar tingle of excitement, anticipation and just the smallest hint of dread filled her. It might be a lot more domestic than before, but this was still an adventure with the Doctor. The fate of the world could be at stake. There was no denying that a part of her really had missed this.

**~oOo~**

The pounding in his head was the first thing that he noticed as he began to wake. His vision was blurry as he opened his eyes but even through the haze nothing looked familiar. Where was he? What had happened? Slowly, he sat up.

"Oh good, you're awake," a distantly familiar voice with a London accent said from nearby. "If you were out much longer I was going to have to call an ambulance."

Blinking rapidly, her face swam into focus. His breath caught in his throat. She was stunningly beautiful with softly curled honey-blonde hair, angular cheek bones, full lips and whiskey colored eyes; she couldn't have been older than her early to mid-twenties. Taking in the rest of her, he noticed that she was wearing simple dark jeans, a dark red jumper and trainers. For a moment he thought maybe he died and gone to heaven.

"Are you all right, mate?" she asked, breaking him from his appraisal.

"Yeah, but did you get the number of that lorry that hit me?' He rubbed a sore spot on the back of his head.

She giggled. "Sorry, no lorry. I think you just slipped on the icy sidewalk. Went outside to get the paper and found you. Good thing I did too; your lips were already turning blue."

He tried to stand but immediately sat back feeling dizzy. The woman laid a hand on his shoulder and sat down next to him. "You may have hit your head harder than I thought. I'm going to ask you a couple questions to see if you're alright. What's your name?'

Momentarily he closed his eyes. "John Smith." The name came involuntarily. That was good. Wasn't it?

"Where are you?"

"I thought I was in Colorado, some kitschy name… Serenity, no, Silver Springs. Yeah, that's it. But maybe I fell really far down the rabbit hole and am somehow still in London." He remembered getting off the airplane, picking up the car and even driving through the night to get here.

"Well, you seem alert and responsive to me." She grinned. "And don't worry, you're still in Colorado. You just happened to land on the doorstep of the only Brit in town. Are you here visiting? Ski season doesn't start for another couple weeks."

Pain shot through his head as he shook it. "I'm not here for ski season. I'm a writer. Mostly travel books, articles for magazines, but I was thinking about writing a novel." He winced in pain again.

"Ah, that's the American dream isn't it?" She grinned and stood up. "To escape to some remote destination and write a book that will change the world."

It was his turn to laugh. "See, I always thought the American dream was a house with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids."

"Why would anyone want half a kid?" She wrinkled her nose. "Let me get you something for your head. I'll be right back, and then I'll make tea." John nodded but before he could say anything she slipped through a door in the kitchen.

In her absence John studied the room around him. The furniture was posh but comfortable; there were photographs of various people hanging from the walls, and a large flat screen telly hung over a fireplace. Nice, but not entirely remarkable. At least that's what he thought until he turned his head. His jaw dropped open in awe.

The entire back wall was floor to ceiling windows, and she had a magnificent view of snowcapped mountains. The wind up at the summit must have been blowing something fierce because the fresh powder was curling like smoke. "That is gorgeous."

"Thanks. It's why I bought the house. You don't get views like that where I grew up." She came up behind him and handed him a couple painkillers and a glass of water. "Here, this should help the headache."

"Thank you, um…" Popping the pills into his mouth, he realized he didn't even know her name.

"I'm Rose by the way. Rose Tyler," she said, turning back towards the kitchen. "Tea?"

"Please don't tell me you use a bag," he whinged as he followed behind her and plopped down on a stool.

Rose rolled her eyes and turned on the electric kettle. "Beggars can't be choosers, Doc… John. No one else in this town can make anything close to my tea." She turned her back to him to begin her preparations. "My mother would have my head if I used bags for a guest."

He quietly watched her measure the loose leaf tea into the pot, take out mugs and pour the water when it was ready. It was only when she was pulling out a tin of biscuits that obviously had to be imported did a thought strike him.

"Why are you doing this?" He nodded to the plate she had just slid in front of him. "You just met me, and now you're making me tea and leaving me alone in your house. I could be a criminal or a rapist or someone with nefarious intent for all you know."

Rose licked her lips then her whiskey colored eyes narrowed, and he felt like she was staring into his soul. "Are you someone with nefarious intent?" she asked, slowly and deliberately.

A lump formed in his throat that he quickly swallowed down. "No," he whispered.

"Good." Her face lit up with a bright smile. "Besides it's not like I couldn't defend myself if you did. I've brought down scarier things than you, John Smith. And as to why I'm doing this… I'm a nice person who doesn't want a stranger freezing to death in front of her house. Think of what it would do to the property values."

"With a view like that I wouldn't worry about dead bodies piling up." He nodded his head towards the wall of windows and accepted the cuppa she offered him. "Although I would think that privacy might be an issue. Can't really dance around in your knickers, can you?"

Rose stiffened slightly. "You spend much time thinking about women you just met dancing around half naked?"

"Only the really pretty ones," he replied lamely and a look of hurt flashed across her face. Uh oh, he thought, maybe he had pushed this flirtation too far. He had just met her and she had been kind enough to not let him freeze on the sidewalk, and he had made her uncomfortable in her own home. "Sorry," he said after a long pause, looking down at his tea cup. "Got a little carried away there."

She let out a short laugh. "You're a flirt." She didn't sound angry. It was just like she was stating a fact. "There are plenty of young women in this town that will fall arse over teakettle for that smile and your accent. Americans love a British accent. But don't go thinking I'll be one of those girls." Her phone began to ring. "My love life is complicated enough, ta."

"Rose, I didn't mean…" He started but she shook her head.

"Drink your tea. I need to take this call." Turning on her heel, she left him alone in her kitchen.

"Well now you've done it, Smith," he reprimanded himself while stirring sugar into his cup. "First day in a new town, in the place you came to escape to and you've already almost killed yourself and managed to tick off probably the most attractive and witty woman you have ever met." Taking a sip of his tea, he hummed appreciatively.

"And she makes brilliant tea." He sighed and dunked a chocolate biscuit in his drink. There was something about Rose, something palpable. She was right about him though; he was a flirt. But it was all flirt and no follow through. His life traveling kept him on the run, and he didn't have time for romantic entanglements. And he was here to write a book, not to socialize.

Suddenly in the silence of the empty room he felt very alone. He never stayed in one place long enough to form lasting connections. When you're constantly on the run it's hard to put down roots.

"Sorry," Rose said, coming back into the room. "Work thing. Scientists and CEOs shouldn't mix. Now I have an issue that needs to be taken care as soon as possible." Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she motioned towards the front door.

Scrambling to his feet, he set down his cup and moved to grab his jacket from the lounge. "Um, right, well then it was lovely to meet you, Rose Tyler." He let her name roll around in his mouth, liking the way it sounded when he said it.

"You too, John." Her face lit up again with another genuine smile.

His hand slipped into his coat, finding his keys. "Rose, I was wondering if we could do this again. I mean, not the part where I almost split my skull on your sidewalk. But the talking and the tea. Your tea is very good, by the way. Maybe we could have dinner? I mean, just as friends to make up for earlier and to thank you for this morning."

Mentally he wanted to kick himself. Well, there was another thing he's cocked up, and it wasn't even nine yet. However the more he rambled the more her smile grew. "Dinner as friends? Alright. But not tonight, even though it's Saturday I have a feeling that I'm going to be putting in a full day at the office."

"Right, great, I'll see you tomorrow night seven o'clock, and it's my treat of course. But only as a thank you, not like a date, not that dating you would be a bad thing. I should shut up now. Yeah, shutting up now. Got a bit of a gob on me." He clamped his jaw shut, and she grinned.

"Oh, wait just a mo," Rose exclaimed and dashed out of the room, coming back a moment later with a small white card. "In case you need anything between now and tomorrow night, here's my card. The mobile number on it is the best way to reach me."

Holding it out to him, he noticed her fingers were trembling slightly. He stole a quick glance at the card before tucking it into his jeans pocket.

_Rose M. Tyler_

_Senior Vice President Research and Development_

_Pinnacle Enterprises_

He couldn't wait to find out more about this woman. With one final goodbye he bounded down the steps, excited about how today was shaping up. Little did he know that on the other side of the door Rose was pinching the bridge of her nose and thinking that this was going to be the longest three months of her life.


	3. Chapter 3

**~oOo~**

It was just past ten when Rose finally made it back home. Sometimes she wondered why she had thought dealing with tetchy scientists would make an ideal career. There was a deadline coming up for their newest tech gizmo with the prototype due on Monday, and they still weren't done. Luckily, Rose knew a thing or two about tinkering.

Work today had been a welcome distraction from the Doctor, or rather John Smith. This morning bantering back and forth with him while having tea had transported her back to when they were traveling together. And she realized just how much she had missed him, missed the ease with which they interacted.

Then he opened his mouth again, and she was reminded of why she had left. Oh, she didn't think that the Doctor had actually done anything with Madame du Pompadour, although not from lack of trying on the mistress's part. He was a notorious flirt, but he never did anything about it. Rose seriously doubted that there would have been a kiss between the Doctor and the Uncrowned Queen of France if she hadn't initiated it.

But with his eye being so easily caught so soon after Sarah Jane and promises of 'never you', she couldn't trust him not to abandon her. She still cared about him. How could she not? So the next morning when she had gone to check on him and he was acting like everything was back to normal, understandably she had been shocked.

He'd never once mentioned France on a spaceship again. He had loved Reinette so much that he'd been willing to spend his life on the slow path with her and then he had not said one word about her after that. He hadn't even mourned her after that first night. Rose didn't know who she felt worse for: Reinette for being forgotten so easily, the Doctor for forgetting so easily or herself for knowing that the second she walked out those doors she wouldn't even be a memory.

A week later, after much thought, Rose decided to leave on her own terms. Yes, the Doctor had protested her leaving, but he hadn't stopped her, hadn't even really tried. Going back to her mum's flat was hard, but she made her own way, sort of. There was a scholarship from the Jagrafess Endowment (thanks to Jack) that had financed her studies through University. Rose knew then that she could do this, and she never expected to hear from the Doctor again.

Then came the flowers: pink and yellow roses every year on her birthday and the anniversary of the day they met. No card, but she knew who they were from considering that particular type of rose wasn't found on Earth. No word from him though, at least not directly.

Jack had introduced her to Martha, and the other woman had been standoffish because the Doctor had never shut up about his lost Rose. She had been flabbergasted that he'd spoken about her. If he missed her so much, why hadn't he just come to visit her? Her curiosity was almost overwhelming, but her pride and her desire to make something of herself kept her from reaching out to him, for a little while at least.

On the day she graduated Uni, she came home to her flat and found a blue and silver wrapped package on her kitchen table. Inside was a silver necklace with a pendant that shone like the night sky.

That time he had left a note.

_I am so very proud of you._

_Always yours,_

_The Doctor_

She wore it around her neck every day for two weeks before she mustered up the courage to call the Doctor. Her super phone was back in her mum's flat along with her TARDIS key, but she still remembered the number five years later. As the phone rang, her whole body trembled. How would she feel hearing his voice again? How would he feel about her calling?

There was a soft click as someone answered the phone. There was a distinct sound of the Doctor's laughter in the background, and the girl who answered the phone was giggling. _"Thank you for calling your friendly neighborhood TARDIS, this is Jenny speaking. How can I help you?"_

Rose was shocked. Part of her had assumed that the flowers and the necklace that the Time Lord hadn't moved on. She knew those thoughts were selfish. He needed to move on the same way she did. "Sorry, this is Rose," she said after a moment's pause. "Can you just tell him that I said thank you for the necklace? I really love it, and I'll treasure it always. Gotta go."

 _"Wait, what's happening, Mu…."_ Rose hung up before Jenny could finish her sentence.

After that she had thrown herself further into her human life on the slow path, no longer wanting to live in _what could have been_. Even through her ups and downs it had been fantastic so far.

Now the Doctor was back, or at least John Smith was. Three months and he would be gone again. In the meantime, Rose had the chance to visit with someone that she had been missing very much. Slipping out of her shoes and grabbing the Doctor's suit out of the closet, she headed down to the basement.

Once inside the console room, Rose felt like the TARDIS had wrapped her in a tight, loving embrace. Her fingers caressed the coral struts. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say a proper hello earlier. Your unconscious pilot had me a bit distracted."

The TARDIS hummed, and Rose smiled. "I missed you too. Just so you know. Sometimes I think I missed you more than him. Because we all know that you're the one in charge." Tinkling laughter filled her head as she plopped down on the jump seat. The Doctor's pinstriped suit was folded in her lap. She wondered if he still carried his sonic in the same pocket of his jacket that he had done when she had traveled with him.

Reaching a hand into the left breast pocket she found the sonic and what felt like an old piece of paper. She pulled both of them out and was surprised that the paper was actually a battered photograph of her and the Doctor on New Earth. It looked old and worn, like it was handled often. Turning it over, she noticed writing on the back. It was written in Gallifreyan and the TARDIS didn't translate.

The Doctor's voice filled the room before Rose could ruminate on the photo for too long.

_"Ok, so I have a couple of rules or maybe guidelines for dealing with human me."_

Rose looked up at the view screen and was greeted with his smiling face. Reflexively she grinned back, curious to see what 'rules' he had for her.

_"First, don't let me hurt anyone. Not that I think that I would, but you know how humans are. Two, don't let me get involved in current events. Can't risk damaging any timelines and since you are a former companion I have every confidence that you already knew that. Four, no wait three, you, I'm not sure exactly how my subconscious will work you in, but if for some reason I am utterly rude to you…"_

"I won't be surprised in the least," Rose muttered.

_"Sorry in advance. Rude and not ginger, that's me. Four, pears. I hate pears. John Smith is just a made up character, don't let him eat a pear. I really don't want to wake up in three months and taste that."_

Rolling her eyes, she sniggered, "You really shouldn't give people stuff to use against you."

_"Five, don't let me invent anything or write anything that could alter the course of human history. Six, don't let me see the TARDIS. It might be too much for John Smith to take, and I don't fancy being carted off to the insane asylum. Seven, no wait six, yes six, the TARDIS is powered down and she won't be able to access all of her rooms so don't push her just because you want to go ten-pin bowling or watch a film from 2539 or something. Seven, I'm allergic to aspirin but I'm not sure if this human version of me will know that. So try and get me to take another type of painkiller if I need one. I don't want to regenerate from a medical accident. Again."_

Rose snorted and was glad that she had come downstairs and checked with the TARDIS before giving him anything earlier. She'd opened the door expecting to have to go all the way to the med bay to get some weird alien medicine cleverly disguised as something human but had instead found a good old bottle of paracetamol. Or at least she had found the American equivalent of it.

 _"Eight! Please know I don't expect you to take care of me. I presume that the TARDIS will set me up with some sort of vocation. Oh, or maybe you can get me a job at a little shop. I love a little shop, great places to meet people shops are."_ He paused, and he swallowed _. "Nine, if this isn't Rose and you see her, don't tell her that I'm here and not me. I don't want her burdened with me if she doesn't have to be. Ten, if this is Rose, I left you a separate message. Again I'm sorry. If I am with you, it's probably because the TARDIS knows how much I miss you, and because she misses you as well."_

Tears prickled in Rose's eyes. Why is it that he could be so open in videos or holograms but not to her face? And what was in the other message that the Doctor had left for her?

The Doctor cleared his throat _. "Anyway, eleven. Thinking back to things that I probably shouldn't see or have contact with; anything trans-dimensional, like the pockets on my suit. Oh, or my sonic, my psychic paper or anything alien. You'll figure it out. Twelve, while I'm human I won't have the ability to regenerate. If it becomes likely that I'll die, open the watch. It will make me traceable but rather that than me dead for good. Maybe…"_ He shook his head. _"Thirteen, the watch. Keep it close to you. I'm trusting you with my life here. It has a perception filter on it so I won't notice it or, you know, try and open it early._

_"Fourteen, it would probably be a good idea for Jack to stay away while the Family is tracking me. If they get their hands on Jack Harkness, the consequences could be potentially devastating. So keep him away. Fifteen, if you have no idea who Jack Harkness is just stay away and don't look him up. Sixteen, if for some reason you do look him up even though I asked you not to, ignore the flirting. He's like that with everyone. And I mean everyone… doesn't matter if it's animal, vegetable or mineral. Seventeen, I'm sorry, Jack, but you know it's true."_

Rose couldn't help but laugh, and she couldn't wait to show Jack this video.

_"Eighteen, if I say or do anything embarrassing while I'm John Smith, please remember that he's not me. I mean he'll have little bits of my personality, possibly, but that's it. He's not me. Although…. Some things may bleed through. Nineteen, Jam! I really like jam and bananas and tea. Please make sure that I don't overindulge because I doubt that human me will have the superior metabolism that the Time Lord me has. Twenty, I will be 100% human, please keep that in mind. Twenty-one, back to the watch, please don't lose it or Time Lord me will be gone._

_"Twenty-two if you open it when I'm not around it may attract attention to us that we don't need_. _And finally, twenty-three, if they find us, open the watch, bring me back. I'll trust your judgment here."_ He moved to turn off the camera but then stepped back so that his whole face filled the screen. _"Thank you for this. Really, thank you."_

The screen went blank. Rose let out a deep breath, and then she started to giggle. Those giggles turned into full blown laughter. Oh, that message was so purely him. After a minute the laughter subsided and she yawned; time for bed. It had been a long day, and she needed to digest everything that had happened. Not to mention that she didn't even want to think about what she had agreed to with John tomorrow, not without a good night's sleep first.

**~oOo~**

When his hair was as perfect as he was going to get it, he stepped and appraised his choice of attire; burgundy converse, dark blue jeans, vest top under a t-shirt with a moose emblazoned on the left breast (did they have moose in this part of Colorado?), black hoody and a short black trench coat. He thought he cleaned up nicely.

He had spent a good part of the morning wandering the small town. A few miles away there was a bustling ski resort town with five star restaurants and posh shops, but this one was the epitome of small town Americana. There was one smallish supermarket, four hole-in-the-wall diners, a few specialty shops, a library in what looked to be a large old house and a police station.

Just outside the main square was Pinnacle Enterprises, the company Rose worked for. It was by far the largest building in town and the only thing he'd been able to find out about it so far was that it was some sort of think tank. That, and it was one of the two largest employers for local residents, the other being the coal mine located in the opposite direction of the ski resort.

Small town life, this is what he'd come up here for, to escape from the fuss and bother of city life and to bypass the tourist spots. A quiet spot to write his book, that's what he wanted to find here, and if it came with the added bonus of Rose Tyler, well so much the better.

Grabbing his keys off the side table, he stepped in to the hallway and locked the door behind him.

The Range Rover was downstairs, and even though it was only about a half a mile from his flat to Rose's house he chose to drive. It was a cold night, and he didn't want to battle with the ice again. Besides, this way he could take Rose to a nicer restaurant than the ones within walking distance.

In a matter of minutes, he was bounding up the stairs to her door. His knuckles rapped out 'Shave and a Hair Cut' on the wood to let her know that he was there and waiting. There was a shuffling inside, and he heard two quick knocks answering 'two bits' to his greeting. He smiled as she opened the door.

"Can't leave it unfinished," Rose laughed and stepped aside to let him in. "You're right on time. Wasn't expecting that."

His mouth went slightly dry as he took in her appearance. Her blonde hair in a messy up do and green cable knit sweater with large brown buttons and a dark muffler wrapped around her neck made her look like the epitome of casual elegance. The sound of her clearing her throat brought him out of his reverie.

Blinking for a second, he smiled at her. "Well, I was eager to see my new friend. And dinner. I'm a bit famished. So yes, enthusiastic about dinner with the beautiful lady of the house who is just my friend."

"Riiight," she countered, quirking an eyebrow. "So, did you have any idea where you wanted to go for dinner?" Quickly grabbing her coat off the back of a nearby chair, John helped her put it on. "Such a gentleman." Her lips twitched as she tried not to smile.

"Just trying to make up for my rudeness earlier, and I have a few ideas about dinner. There's a French place up near Bear Lodge. I'd love to see if the American version stacked up to the real thing. And I hear that they have dancing."

Rose looked him over appraisingly and then shook her head. "The food there is great, but you're a bit underdressed for that place. Both of us are. Black tie only, and yes, the dance floor is very nice." After buttoning her coat she stepped out onto the stoop. He followed her out and for the first time noticed that there was no key lock on the door. Instead, there was what looked like a biometric key pad.

"Are you sure that's safe? I mean, a really good hacker could easily pick a biometric lock." John pulled out a pair of glasses from his coat pocket as he bent over to study the device.

Rose snorted. "Not this one, it needs six types of identification in order to open the lock. Besides it deadlock seals after two failed attempts to open it, alerts the authorities and contacts me immediately."

"Impressive," John replied, nodding. "Who designed it?"

"I did." Rose was down the steps and already heading down the driveway when he stood back up. "Are you coming?"

Rushing to catch up with her, he wrapped a hand around her elbow, gently guiding her to the passenger side of the car. He helped her inside and then shut the door before going around and sliding into the driver's seat. Once they had pulled out onto the street, he chanced a glance over at her.

"When you say that you created the door lock thingy, do you mean you yourself did it or the company you work for? Your card said you were in research and development."

"Both, actually." She sounded chuffed. "I had this… friend, and he loved to tinker. I guess it rubbed off. So when I went to Uni to get my business degree, I took some mechanical engineering classes. Turns out I had a knack for it, and I changed my major. Minored in business. The rest is history."

A feeling of pride enveloped him. He asked her a few more questions about her childhood as they drove the short distance to a burger joint he had scoped out earlier. To say that he was awestruck with her 'rags-to-riches' would have been an understatement. Rose Tyler was remarkable, and John could easily see himself falling for her. When he put the car in park, he was a little disappointed that she didn't wait for him to come round and open her door. He really was trying to be on his best behavior after yesterday's rude behavior.

Rose appreciated that he held the restaurant's door open for her and pulled out her chair for her. So far, John Smith had proved himself to be a polite and magnetic man and he was doing his absolute best to charm the pants off of her. She couldn't let him, though; it would add further problems to her current disaster of a love life. Okay, disaster wasn't the right term. It was just convoluted.

Under the table, John's foot tapped nervously next to hers. The Doctor had hardly ever been nervous, especially around her, unless they were alone and he had unintentionally taken their flirting too far. That was when he awkwardly backpedaled. She had learned early on that the Doctor loved to flirt but that he rarely meant anything by it. Not to her, not to anyone really, and now she had gone and made herself a little bit sad.

"Everything alright? he asked, looking at her from over the top of his menu, his sexy specs perched on his nose once more. Why did he have to wear those things again?

She shook her head clear. "Just away with the fairies for a mo."

With a smile and a nod he looked back down at his menu. "So what's good here? I mean, I assume you've been before since there aren't that many restaurants in the vicinity."

As if on cue, a waiter that Rose knew set a basket full of chips and a bottle of vinegar down in front of her. "Thanks, Brock," she said, smiling gratefully at the young man.

"Usual to drink, Rose?" he asked, and when she nodded he turned to John. "And what can I get for your friend here?"

John flipped the menu over and perused the drink selections. "Banana milkshake, ta," he replied after a moment.

"Two banana shakes coming up. I'll give you two a moment to decide what you want." Brock headed back to the kitchen.

"Come here often then?" John teased, stealing a chip before she drenched them in the vinegar.

Rose shrugged. "Like you said, not many places to eat around here." She bit into one of the greasy potatoes. "Besides they have the best 'fries' for miles." As she said the American word for chips she made air quotes with her fingers, and he laughed. "Most places cut them too thin."

"That and the cute waiters." He nudged her foot with his.

She tightly pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. "I don't think Brock swings that way, John, but I'm sure that there is some lovely young man out there for you. I have this friend back in Wales that would love to meet you."

The surprised look on his face was priceless. "What no, no, no, no, no… I mean it looked like Brock fancied you is all. I like girls… women. I like lovely, mature women. Not too old, though. You know… young, fit, great smile, doesn't take herself too seriously. Oh, I've bolloxed this all up haven't I?"

Laughter spilled uncontrollably from her mouth. God, she missed laughing this much. She hadn't had anyone to really joke around with and tease since she moved here over a year ago. "You are such an easy mark."

Grinning, he pointed a finger in her face and wiggled it causing her to laugh harder. "And you are very, very mean, Rose Tyler."

The way he said her name caused her to slow her laughter. "Sorry," she giggled and drew in a deep calming breath. "Brock's a good kid, a sixteen year old kid, about half my age. He's already saving money to go to college. He wants to be a large animal veterinarian."

John gave her a crooked grin. "You seem to know a lot about him."

Shrugging again, she returned his smile. "Small towns are full of gossip. Everyone knows everyone else's business. See Lisa over there." She pointed to a brunette in the corner. "She's having an affair with her boss. Always been trying to shag her way to riches, and that bloke…" This time she pointed at a man sitting at the counter. "Got a bit of a gambling problem. Give it a week, John, and the chinwags in this town will spread your entire life story to everyone. Best to play things close to the vest, give them a little bit while keeping all the juicy bits to yourself."

A few minutes later Brock came back and took their orders. Their playful banter continued through dinner. All in all, Rose was having a great time. It had been so easy to slip back into their playful banter—way too easy. She'd all but forgotten that this wasn't the Doctor until he'd started asking questions about her family on the ride home.

"So, are your parents still back in London then?"

"Um, yeah." Rose bit her lip. "My mum, Jackie, lives just outside of town now. I bought her a house so she could get off the old estate. She does hair and plays Nan to my friend Mickey's girls."

She glanced at his profile, and he turned to look at her for a moment. "And your dad?"

"He died when I was a baby, hit by a car." Turning her head, she looked out the window.

Reaching over, he found her hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'm sorry."

She squeezed back. "It's alright, been a long time. What about your parents?" Looking back at him, she was curious for his answer.

"Ah yes, they died in a house fire several years back." This time she squeezed his hand before he continued. "My mum, Verity, was a Literature professor, and my dad, Sydney, was a watch maker."

"Must have been hard on you," Rose murmured, wondering if when he thought of those fictional people he thought of the family he lost in the time war.

"A bit yeah, but traveling was a distraction. And then the wanderlust took over. I'll have to tell you about my travels one day, Rose Tyler." He pulled his car into her driveway.

For a moment, Rose wondered what was going to happen now. This wasn't a date, and she prayed that John wouldn't try to kiss her. This was already complicated enough. Oh god, they were still holding hands. She quickly let him go. "I'd like that, but not tonight, John. I'm knackered. See you soon, though." She was out of the car and up the steps before he had a chance to say anything more than a quick goodnight.


	4. Chapter 4

~oOo~

For the next four days Rose threw herself into her work. She was not avoiding John, not really. They had talked on the phone a couple times as well as had a few casual conversations when they ran into each other. However there had been no more meals together, not since that first night.

There was a looming deadline for her new project to think about. At least that's what she kept telling herself. They had texted back and forth a few times since the awkward ending to their evening out. If she was entrusted with keeping the human John Smith safe then she couldn't just ignore him. She just didn't have a whole lot of time to spend with him right now. That caused her to feel almost equal amounts of relief and guilt.

She was conflicted, very conflicted. Her life now was fantastic and she loved it, loved everyone in it, and she didn't know if she wanted to be caught up in the Doctor's slipstream again. She needed someone to talk to because right now she couldn't trust herself to make any kind of decisions.

Setting her take away down on the counter and slipping off her shoes, she made a decision. It was time to call Jack. It was half six here and would be well past midnight In Cardiff. Thankfully her impossible friend didn't sleep much. She just hoped she didn't catch him and Ianto in their naked shenanigans time. Activating the vid-com she kept in the lounge, she placed the call and plopped down on the sofa, tablet in hand. A moment later Jack's face filled the screen.

 _"Hello, gorgeous. Long time no talk."_ Jack was chipper as always. And thankfully not naked. Rose could see his rolled up shirt sleeves and typical braces.

"Oh, you know, work just keeps me busy. My newest project has to be ready to roll out by the end of the month. And you know what a tight-arse my boss is."

_"Might I remind you, you're your own boss but I must say that you have a very tight arse. Still think you should come work with me. I miss you. When are you coming to visit?"_

"Oh Jack, I miss you too and I've got a holiday planned after the New Year and stop asking me to come work at Torchwood. You know I'm probably going to end up there eventually. After things start to become noticeable." She waved a hand around her face. "You're gonna be stuck with me for a long time. Might as well get some experience on my own first." She cleared her throat. "But that's not why I called. I have a little bit of a tricky situation on my hand."

Leaning into the camera, he asked, _"What's wrong, Rosie?"_

Rose stifled the urge to roll her eyes. Jack was the only person that she would ever allow to call her Rosie. "I'm sending you a file. Watch it and then we'll talk." Pressing a few quick commands on her tablet she sent him the Doctor's message and rules that she'd downloaded from the TARDIS. While he watched, she went and grabbed her dinner. She was just settling back down when Jack finished watching the videos.

He chuckled. _"I love how I got my very own rules."_

"I thought you might get a kick out of that," Rose laughed.

He peppered her with rapid-fire questions. _"So he's really there? And he has no clue who you are? Have you seen him as this human yet? Any idea how long it's been for him?"_

"Of course he's really him, either that or someone managed to clone a one-hearted version of him. He doesn't remember anything about the Doctor because the Doctor is trapped in a fob watch. John and I had dinner a couple nights ago. He's been here less than a week. And I have no idea how long it's been. Could be a hundred years or a few months."

 _"You went on a date with John Smith? I mean I know that you missed him, but that's a little fast for you."_ He was grinning from ear to ear. _"And more importantly, what does Liam think about it?"_

"Stop it. It wasn't like that. If I need to keep the Doctor safe I need to at least be friends with him. I mean her seemed interested but I can't. I just can't. Besides I haven't seen him since that night."

_"If I were you, I'd be getting that man in bed…"_

Quickly Rose cut him off. "Yes, Jack, I know exactly what you'd do." He gave her a cheeky grin and she shook her head. "Now focus for a mo. Have you ever heard of the Family of Blood? Sounds ominous, I know, but how big a threat are they really?"

 _"Off the top of my head I don't recall having heard of them. But I'll check the Torchwood archives and see if I can come up with anything."_ Jack let out a deep sigh. _"Are you okay? I mean, you haven't seen or heard from the Doctor in ten years; it must be overwhelming to say the least."_

"He's not the Doctor, Jack, he said so himself." She didn't bother to correct him on the point of not hearing from the Doctor in that time. Although flowers, a necklace and one card didn't really count as contact, did they? "The Doctor is in the watch. I'll keep it safe and John safe because that's what he asked me to do. And in three months we'll go our separate ways again."

_"Are you sure that's what you really want? For you both to walk away from something great again?"_

Rose bit her lip. It wasn't a question that she wanted to answer right now, if ever. "Jack, I can't right now. Let me know if you find anything. Gotta run."

_"I know when I'm getting the brush off, sweetheart, even though it doesn't happen often. Just promise you'll think about what you want to happen when all of this is over."_

Rolling her eyes, Rose promised him she'd think about it, even if such thoughts were against her better judgment. "I'll talk to you soon. Night, Jack. Love you."

 _"G'night, sweetheart. Love ya too."_ He winked at her before signing off.

Rose snuggled into the sofa and picked at her dinner. Calling Jack had only made her feel nominally better. Tomorrow, she resolved that she would have to see John again, get to know him. She would take this one day at a time and hoped that her heart didn't caught up in the mix.

~oOo~

On Friday morning, John settled into the booth he'd been using at the café for the last several days. The kitchen in his flat was not at all conducive to cooking, and this place had wonderful pancakes.

The waitress, Carol Ann, placed a cup of coffee in front of him. The woman was middle aged, fairly pretty, ginger and more than a bit of a flirt. John mostly bumbled through conversations with her when she was flirting, He didn't want to encourage her but apparently, as Rose had predicted, many of the women in this town took his friendly demeanor and British accent as tantamount to him being a Lothario. Not exactly the reputation that he wanted to have.

"Mind if I join you?" Rose asked, sliding into the booth across from him. She looked as if she had just been out for a jog; her golden hair tied back in a ponytail and she was wear a lavender tracksuit and trainers.

"Yeah, sure," he replied with a smile. He'd spent the last two days analyzing every moment of their dinner. After its abrupt ending he'd assumed that he had done something wrong, but Rose had texted him the next day. She had said that she was busy with work, however she hoped to see him soon. Since then it had been nothing but text messages, a phone call and a chance encounter or two.

He thought that he had scared her off but here she was, sitting across from him.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked as Carol Ann set mug of coffee down in front of her.

"No, I'm just happy to see you again." He smiled shyly at her.

"John, you didn't tell us that you knew Rose here," the waitress said, resting her hand on his arm. "Are you two kin or something?"

Scooting slightly across the bench seat, he managed to get Carol Ann to let go of him. "Nope, not related what so ever, nope, nope, nope." He was babbling and he knew it. Rose leaned over the table and laid her hand over his and he instantly felt a warmth flow through him.

"We just met Saturday. John slipped on the sidewalk outside my house. I brought him in and made sure he was all right." Rose squeezed his hand, and he turned his over so that their palms were touching.

"Just hit it off." John smiled first at their waitress and then at Rose. "It's nice to have someone to remind you of home."

"So are you two… you know? Together?" Carol Ann asked, sounding a bit dazed.

A small giggle escaped Rose's lips. "I never kiss and tell." Rose squeezed his hand before letting go. Immediately, he missed the connection to her. However, he was confused by what his breakfast companion had just intimated about a relationship between them.

"Can I get oatmeal with brown sugar and a side of toast, please?" Rose asked, smiling in spite of the strange look the waitress was giving them. "What did you want, John?"

Quickly, he ordered what was to become his usual, banana pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. The moment the waitress collected the menus and turned around Rose moved her hand from underneath John's. Immediately he felt its loss. He looked over at Rose, confusion all over his face.

She smiled. "Carol Ann is on the prowl," she whispered. "Looking for a husband, a way out of this town, and you could take her pretty far away from here. I just figured if she thought you were unavailable, she'd leave you alone."

His eyes scanned the room until he saw the subject of their discussion. "Well, Carol Ann looks like she might be quite the catch, buuuuut," he drew out the word as he leaned back into his seat. "I'm not looking to settle down just yet and for the moment, I'm very happy here with my new friend, Rose."

For a moment she didn't react and he was afraid that he'd said something wrong. Then she laughed. Her next question was a complete non sequitur. "Do you like running?"

"Oh, I love it." He leaned forward again, elbows on the table. "Haven't had a chance to do much since I arrived here. Takes a while to acclimatize to the altitude."

"I'll say," agreed Rose. "I've seen people sick for a week when they first get here. You seem to be doing alright though; appetite doesn't seem to have suffered."

He gave her a wry smile. "Guess I was just blessed with good genes."

A single eyebrow shot up as she looked at him appraisingly. "Not that good."

"Oi!" The protestation came out louder than he meant it to.

The expression on her face changed. She looked dead serious, and he felt himself get just the slightest bit nervous. "Alright, then you can prove to me just how good those genes are." There was something about her. He'd known her such a short period of time but he felt like he would live or die by her good favor. He wanted more from her, but he knew he'd have to hold back if he didn't want to scare her off.

His voice caught on his next words. "What.. What did you have in mind?" Anticipation built as he waited for her to reply. Right now he was certain that he would do anything that she asked of him.

Leaning forward on her elbows she mirrored his position and one corner of her mouth curled upwards. "Running, five miles every morning. All types of terrain. I bet you won't be able to keep up with me."

The mood shifted to a more jovial one. "Oh, I think I can more than keep up with you. I think you will be, what's the saying?" He paused and grinned wickedly at her. "Oh yes. Eating my dust, Rose Tyler."

"You're on." She grinned back. "Meet me at my place six am tomorrow, sharp."

The rest of breakfast was enjoyable. The pair enjoyed an easy back and forth style of banter. An hour later when John finally made it back to his flat, he felt inspired. Cracking open his laptop, he began to type. Words flowed easily from his fingers. His muse had been found in the beautiful, intelligent, spitfire known as Rose Marion Tyler. He was so wrapped up in his writing that he didn't pause to think how he knew her middle name since she had never once mentioned it to Mr. John Smith.

~oOo~

Rose sat at her desk in her office several days later. Her eyes had begun to glaze over as she entered her third hour of redoing her department's budget. Unconsciously, she rubbed her the ring finger on her left hand with her thumb. This was by far the worst part of her job, the paper work. She would much rather be in her lab or meeting with investors or clients.

Tea, she needed tea and thank God that her assistant knew how to make a decent cuppa. She hit the intercom. "Clara? Can I bother you for some tea?"

 _"Yes, ma'am,"_ the thick southern American accent came thru the callbox. _"Anything else?"_

"No, thank you." Rose released the button and tried to go back to her work. After a few minutes she gave it up as a bad job and closed that file and opened another one. Her fingers nimbly typed the password, _Iamnotamused._ She had only looked at this file once since she had been here and only a handful of times since she'd created it ten years ago.

It was her diary, sort of. Really it was a written compilation of her experiences. She'd scanned in all of the pictures that she had taken with her, which was only about half of the ones that had been in her room on the TARDIS. There was no doubt in her mind that her room was gone now. Probably destroyed by the Doctor soon after she left. Maybe the ship had saved the pictures. It had been a mistake to leave so many behind with her second Doctor.

...

John was restless. He'd woken early after having the strangest dream. There had been time to write before his run with Rose. After breakfast, he'd run to the bookshop in town to buy a journal. There were several things from his dreams that he had wanted to sketch.

Following that he took a leisurely walk around town, something he liked to do even after his run in the morning. Time spent with Rose made him feel alive and this time spent meandering helped him to process the inspiration that she gave him into the written word. In fact, he had finished chapter two just after lunch but didn't have the desire or motivation to move on to the next chapter.

He wanted to do things that didn't involve sitting. His energy was spent cleaning his small flat, trying to get rid of that slightly stale air smell that never seemed to go away. Maybe he could ask Rose round this evening to watch a film. Of course after that he became fixated on the fascinating woman that he was so enamored with.

Quickly, he decided that he needed to see her. She had worked straight through the weekend; apparently there was some deadline that had to be met. At breakfast this morning, however, Rose had told him that the project was now complete, and she would be spending the day doing boring paperwork. That was no way to spend the day! No, this was a rescue mission.

It was a short walk across town to her office. In a few minutes he was opening the door to Rose's office building for the first time. Looking around he saw nothing extraordinary about the place. There were some fairly uncomfortable looking chairs, motivational posters that were more entertaining than motivational. A high receptionist's desk sat opposite the door; behind it sat a pretty young woman. She beamed at him when she caught his eye.

"Hello, how can I help you today?" the woman asked.

"I'm here to see someone," John replied, coming over and leaning on the desk, his head in his hand.

"Anyone in particular? Or are you open to someone new?" The woman with dark blonde hair walked her fingers up his arm until her hand rested on his bicep. "Because I'm available."

"Ahhh, ummm," John spluttered, unsure of what to do next.

"That's enough, Joan," another woman with a thick southern accent and long brown hair said, saving John from the uncomfortable situation. "Can I help you, sir?"

He scrambled to stand up straight. "Yes, I'm here to see Ms. Rose Tyler."

"Ms. Tyler is very busy today. Do you have an appointment, Mr...?"

"Smith, John Smith, and no, I don't have an appointment. I'm here to whisk her away for a day of adventure." John shifted from one foot to the other; perhaps he should have called first. Between the aggressive flirt and the keeper of the keys, he wasn't sure that he'd get to see Rose.

"Please wait here while I see if Ms. Tyler is available." She turned to address the receptionist. "Ms. Redfern, please find a way to behave with some decorum."

Joan looked down at her hands. "Yes, Ms. Oswald."

Turning on her heel, the petite Ms. Oswald walked back down a hallway, into the bowels of the building.

...

There was a knock at the office door, and Rose abruptly shut the file. "Come in." She turned to see who was there and smiled when she saw Clara holding a steaming mug of tea.

"Here you are. Just how you like it." The young brunette set Rose's favorite mug on the corner of her desk. "Just received a call from Mr. Copper confirming that you would be in Denver on Friday to meet with a new investor. Your mother called again; she'd like for you to call her back when you get a chance. She has Sophie today and thought that you'd like to have a chat. Also there is a gentleman in the lobby who said he's here to, let me get the phrasing right. Oh yes. He was here to whisk you away for a day of fun and adventure."

Rose smiled. "Right. Let me guess, he's a good looking, tall, skinny bloke with a great head of hair that calls himself John Smith?"

Wrinkling her nose, Clara replied, "Well, he's really not my type, but I guess he's nice looking. The dragon lady certainly seems to think so. Do you want me to let him in or send him away?"

"I don't think it would work if you tried to send him away, and I think I could use the distraction today. Give me a mo to finish up here and I'll meet him in the lobby. Oh, and get him a visitor's badge. Might as well give him a tour while he's here."

"Yes, ma'am." Clara gave her boss a wink before walking back out of the office.

...

"Ugh, she is such a stick in the mud." Joan rolled her eyes before batting her lashes at John. "So like I was saying before, did you want to get a drink later?"

His eyes went wide. Were all American women this forward? "Erm…No, thank you. I'm not really on the market right now. Sorry." Walking backwards, he sat down in a chair and pulled out his mobile.

"Are you married?" Joan pressed on, apparently not deterred by his not so subtle brush off.

"No," he replied, not bothering to look up at her.

"You got a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Oh…" She paused for a moment and he thought that finally she'd gotten the message. "So you're not into women then? A little light in your loafers?"

He looked up at her astounded. "What?"

"We just don't get many of the gays around here." She made air quotes with her fingers when she said gays. "Well, some do vacation at the resort and some come into see our quaint little town. So you're welcome here, I guess."

Now he was livid. Slowly he walked over to her desk and leaned over it. "Do you know what year this is?"

Joan raised an eyebrow. "Are you are insane too? It's 2016."

"Exactly. It's 2016, and that kind of narrow minded thinking isn't going to get you very far in life." Anger grew in his eyes. "And what does it say about you that you jump to conclusions about my life simply because I'm not interested in you. Maybe you're the nutter since you don't seem to grasp the subtlety of being let down easy. I'll be having a word with your boss about your treatment of visitors to this business. I'm sure that you are not the image that this company, or any company for that matter would want to portray."

Joan stood and got into his face. "You have no right. I'll have you know that my father works here, and you just took things the wrong way." She picked up the receiver on her phone. "I'm calling security."

"That will be enough Ms. Redfern. It is completely unacceptable to treat a visitor like this," Ms. Oswald reprimanded, coming back into the room.

"Ma'am, this man verbally assaulted me." Joan pointed a short finger at John. "I want him kicked out of here and banned from the building. I may even need to go home because of all the abuse."

Ms. Oswald pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just stop it, Joan. You seem to forget that there are cameras in the lobby and audio feeds."

"That's a violation of my rights," Joan protested loudly.

"And those rights end when you walk through those doors. In your contract it clearly states that everything here is monitored." Sighing, Ms. Oswald turned to John. "I'm very sorry for all of this, Mr. Smith."

"Call me John," he replied automatically.

"And you, John, can call me Clara." She grinned brightly at him. "If you'll come with me, I need to get you a security badge before I take you back to see Rose. I'll deal with you later, Joan," she said in an aside to the younger woman before they disappeared down the hallway.


	5. Chapter 5

**~oOo~**

Several minutes later, John was standing outside Rose's office door, his new security badge pinned to his chest. Because she was talking on the phone facing the window with her back to him, he couldn't hear what she was saying, but with the sun pouring through the window, she was surrounded by an almost ethereal glow. A sense of déjà vu washed over him, and a voice whispered in the back of his mind. I want you safe, my Doctor. He shivered at the phantom message and went back to simply observing her.

Rose listened to the girl on the phone as she prattled on about a trip to the planetarium that Sarah Jane's son, Luke, and his friends had taken her on. It was something the group of friends did regularly now. Sophie's second Saturdays they were calling the outings. "Gran is calling me," Sophie said sadly. "I miss you so much. I'll talk to you soon, yeah?"

"Of course, sweetheart, I love you and miss you too," Rose said softly into the phone. Her thumb absent-mindedly stroked the ring finger of her left hand. "Talk to you soon, my love."

"Love you, too. Bye." The phone clicked off and Rose sighed. She missed Sophie dearly and hated that her move here had made seeing her near impossible. At least they had phone calls. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

She could feel his eyes on her as she set down the phone. "Hello, John," said Rose, turning around. "Did you get bored sitting around at your flat?"

"A little bit, maybe a lot." John shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and rocked back on his heels. "Ok, probably a lot. Didn't feel like writing anymore, and I figured I could rescue you from this place." As if in disgust, he wrinkled his nose. "Who would want to be cooped up in an office all day even with that magnificent view?"

Tipping her head to the side, she smirked. "Well, being cooped up in here is the exception rather than the rule, and sometimes when something in the lab is stressing me out I come here and stare at the mountains. I find it relaxing. The view from here is one of my favorites."

"Oh, I didn't mean the view of the mountains." His voice dropped an octave. "I meant the view I'm seeing. The one of you."

Rose swallowed and somehow managed to hold his gaze. This human man, the one who was not the Doctor, had spent the last two weeks or so making his intentions towards her quite clear. Nevertheless, there was no way she could act on his advances. The Doctor didn't feel that way about her, and in a little over two months John Smith would cease to exist.

That last thought poured over her like a bucket of cold water. Looking down, she broke the moment between them. John was fun, sweet and entertaining. He was easily her best friend here stateside, and in a few short weeks she would have to let him die. No, she couldn't let herself think like this; it wouldn't do any good.

"Would you like to see the place?" she asked, trying to shift the focus onto something other than whatever was happening between them. "It's a pretty nice place, if I do say so myself. State of the art technology, lots of techno babble and mad scientists to talk it with. It seems like something that you'd love."

He stepped out of the way of the door frame and back into the hall. "I'd love to see what it is that you do here all day with that clever brain of yours." Once she was across the room, he took her hand and looped it through his arm.

"This way." She indicated a door at the end of the hallway that needed a pass card to open it. "You are about to enter the nerve center to the entire factory. Where some of my dreams become realities, and some of my realities become dreams. "With a swipe of plastic the door opened.

John gave her a lopsided grin. "Rose Tyler, did you just quote Willy Wonka?"

"Might have done." She hummed _In a World of Pure Imagination._ "The 1971 version is my favorite. I somehow missed seeing the 2005 version. I think I was out of town."

"Gene Wilder was a genius in that," John stated definitively. "His character was both delightfully childish and utterly terrifying. By far my favorite as well."

Rose half expected him to go into a discussion about the similarities and differences between Dahl's book and the real life of Mr. William Wontka of the planet Cholada. It was a conversation that she'd had before with her first Doctor just before he took her to experience those chocolate waterfalls first hand. Instead they discussed Rose's company.

Pinnacle Enterprises, as John quickly learned, was founded in 1910 in New York City by a man named Lloyd Webb. In 1912, his wife was diagnosed with consumption. "Or as it's know now, tuberculosis," Rose explained. "And mountain air was supposed to do wonders for the illness."

"Ah, so he moved the family here for the love of his wife," John replied thoughtfully.

Pushing open a door to a lab, Rose grinned. "Exactly! In 1912 Lloyd had a massive house built. It's still standing. Used primarily as the town's library and public offices. The family took residence in 1913, and he ran his lab out of the cellar. It's a bit romantic, don't you think?"

"Oh, very much so," he agreed quickly. "Turning your life upside down to prove your love for a woman and yet still managing to keep be who you are and do the things that you love. Yes, very romantic."

A deep blush formed on her cheeks, and he thought that she looked all the prettier for it. "So the company is still privately owned, along with a half dozen other companies, by the Webb family trust. The home office is back in New York, but I run the majority of the day-to-day operations here. Our clients range from governments to Fortune 500 companies to individuals looking to _trick out_ their homes."

"I'm so proud of you," he exclaimed, the words slipping out of his mouth. "I mean you're doing a brilliant job here, and I'm sure that your family must be so proud of you."

"They are. Thank you." Rose looked away and bit her lip. A moment later she was tugging him towards one of the scientists. "John, this is Dr. Malcolm Turner, one of my brightest inventors. Malcolm, this is my friend, John Smith."

After several minutes of discussions with Malcolm, John wouldn't hesitate to say that this place was quite impressive. Loads of brilliant people building loads of brilliant things, and Rose knew everything about every single project. Her eyes lit up the most, however, when she drug him to her lab and talked about her own projects. The computer that you could strap to the back of your hand that would translate hand movements into written words was remarkable. Then there was her pet project, a universal translator that fitted just behind the ear and tapped into the speech centers in your brain.

"It sort of gets in your head, but you can sever the connection whenever you want," Rose said excitedly as she placed the small device on him. "I'll speak, you'll hear the words in Spanish or whatever, and you'll know what I'm saying." When she started speaking again, in Spanish, he understood what she meant. Well, not the words really, since he didn't speak a lot of Spanish. He understood how incredible her invention was, and he fell just a little deeper.

"Right now there are only four languages programmed into the translator right now: Mandarin, English, Hindustani and Spanish." Removing the device and stowing it carefully back in its box, she slipped back into talking in English. "The top four spoken languages in the world, and the set-up is simple: plug my little translator into your phone, use the app to select your native tongue and off you pop."

"That's going to revolutionize global communications," he stated, completely gob smacked. "This must be what it feels like to be in the presence of someone like Alexander Graham Bell. Only I knew you before you were famous."

"Nah, Alex was much more interesting than me and such a charmer…" Rose's eyes went wide. "I mean, I imagine that someone like Mr. Bell would be far more interesting than I am. It's not like I had a time machine and went back to meet him." Her eyes wouldn't meet his.

"If I had a time machine," John said teasingly. "There are a couple of things that I'd want to do."

"Oh really." Rose raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

Slowly he reached over and took her hand in his, and he began to draw small circles with his thumb on the back of it. "There would be so many great people to meet: Shakespeare, Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, and of course you."

In confusion, her eyebrows knitted together. "I've already met you. That's why we're here now talking, as friends."

"Well, yes, I know that," he laughed. "I meant, I'd go back and find a way for us to have met sooner. I wish I'd known you since we were kids. You in pigtails and me in my big coke bottle glasses. We'd have thousands yesterday's together."

Rose pulled her hand away. "You can't say things like that, John. Life is messy, and you can't go back on your own timeline. It has to move forward. You can't just go back. My life is complicated and... and we've only known each other a few weeks."

"Exactly! I've known you a few weeks and you've already turned my life upside down. In such a good way." He took step forward and she took a step back, shaking her head.

"It's not the right time, John. I need time. Right now, I just..." Her tongue darted out of her mouth to moisten her dry lips. "Right now I can't... We can't."

His face fell and his shoulders sagged. "Right." It was too much too soon. He'd pushed her too hard, and now she was going to push him away completely. His heart felt like it was breaking. Oh, there was no doubt that he was the biggest git that had ever lived. "Sorry, I'll just go then." He turned and headed towards the door to the lab.

"John, please wait," Rose called as his hand reached for the door. He stopped but he didn't turn around. "It's not that… It's not that I don't like you. I do, but like I said, things in my life aren't cut and dry. I just…"

Finally he turned to look at her. The normally confident woman that he had known for such a short period of time look nervous and unsure of herself. He'd done that to her.

"Can't we just be friends for now, John? The best of friends?"

Numbly he nodded, frozen to the spot, watching as she crossed the room and wrapped her arms around his neck. A hug, she was giving him a comforting hug after he'd crossed the line. His arms came round her, and he squeezed her tightly. If this is what she was willing to offer for now, he'd take it.

Rose let herself stay in his arms for longer than she should have. It was her first hug from this man (well, a man in this body) in a decade so she shouldn't be held responsible for her actions. She had hated seeing that pained look in his eyes when she shut down his advances, but it would be so much harder for her to watch the Doctor walk away when this is all over. That is what she still wanted, wasn't it? Her life here on Earth because his wasn't worth the risk to her heart?

A knock on the door broke her from following that train of thought. Extricating herself from his arms, Rose went to open the door. Clara was on the on the other side with a very irate looking Dr. George Redfern. Fan-flipping-tanstic.

"Yes, Clara?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but Dr. Redfern would like to discuss the incident in the lobby with you?" Clara said, casting a disdainful look at the man in question.

"What incident in the lobby?" Rose hated not knowing what was going on.

George pushed forward into lab, knocking Clara out of the way with his rotund stomach. "The one involving that…that…that jerk right there." He wagged a fat finger at John. "Who came to my daughter's place of business, propositioned and then harassed her when she turned him down. I want him arrested."

History was repeating, Rose thought as a gnawing feeling grew in her stomach. Joan was a pretty young woman, probably just the Doctor's type.

"Now see here," John started to protest but Clara cut him off.

"When you see the footage, Ms. Tyler, you will see that it was Ms. Redfern who acted completely inappropriately and unprofessionally." Cautiously she stepped between the two men. "Dr. Redfern is simply upset that his daughter was disciplined and a write up added to her file."

"I firmly believe that footage was tampered with," Dr. Redfern bellowed.

"That is enough, George!" Rose's tone was firm and unyielding. The man instantly quieted down. "I want you and Joan to wait for me in my office while Clara and I review the video. John, I'll call you later."

"I'll meet you in security, Rose," Clara said as she pushed Dr. Redfern from the room, letting the door close behind them.

"Rose, please just let me explain," John pleaded. "She started it. Wouldn't just let it go. Please believe me."

When she had traveled with the Doctor, he had been a flirt. Both versions of him had been, but he'd never been forceful about it. And no man or woman that she could recall had ever been opposed to it. Best to give John the benefit of the doubt. "I'm sure it was all Joan. Wouldn't be the first time she's grossly stepped out of line. Stop by my place later. We can watch a movie. I'll make popcorn."

"Yeah." He paused for a moment. "So…should I just see myself out?"

Rose laughed. "Come on, I'll escort you up front. I'm not sure I trust leaving you in the labs unsupervised. You'd blow something up within the first five minutes."

"Oi! I'm not that bad," he protested and she giggled. "Alright, maybe you have a point, but you still wounded my manly male pride."

This time she took his hand and led him back towards the lobby. "I doubt there is anything that I could do to damage that ego, John. But as recompense I'll cook you dinner."

"I like it when you use those big words, Rose Tyler," he murmured as they neared their destination.

Rose gave him a tongue in teeth grin. Her vocabulary had certainly expounded since she left him, just one of many things that were different about her now. "I read a lot. Now shift and meet me at my place around seven."

"Alright, alright..." He held up his hands. "I can tell when I've overstayed my welcome. I'll see you later."

"Not if I see you first," Rose replied before heading back to her office.


	6. Chapter 6

**~oOo~**

Rose popped the cork on a bottle of red wine, pouring herself a rather large glass. Things had been heated in her office earlier during her formal reprimand of both Joan and Dr. Redfern. After seeing the footage, it was abundantly clear that Joan had acted inappropriately, and Clara had let her off easy with just the write up. This one was her final warning. If she put one more toe out of line it was her job. As far as her father was concerned, well, he really needed to learn to open his eyes to his daughter soon or his own career would suffer.

There was a knock at the door just as Rose dropped pasta into the now boiling water. She placed the lid on the pot and turned down the sauce to a simmer before going to let John in.

He was grinning broadly when the door swung open. "I come bearing gifts of friendship." From behind his back he produced a gift bag. Inside was a box of microwave popcorn, a tin of chocolate and a spray can of whipped cream. "My contribution to tonight. Thank you for inviting me over."

Rose grinned and started back towards the kitchen. "Well, you are very welcome." Deftly, she put the whipped cream in the fridge and set the bag on the counter. "The food should be ready in a few minutes."

"It smells delicious. What's on the menu tonight?" John asked, plopping down on the bar stool.

Rose opened the lid to a pot and used a spoon to test the pasta. Still not done. "Nothing special. Just a simple dish of pasta with marinara sauce, but I have wine. Would you like a glass?"

"Why not," he agreed with a cheeky grin.

After filling a glass that she had left out with the deep red wine, Rose handed it to him. When his fingers brushed hers she ignored the familiar tingle of electricity that she felt. "So, um, I figured that since you suffered the trauma of the dragon lady today, that I'd let you pick the movie." A sly smile formed on her face. "Just this one, so you know. I don't want to end up watching a sappy love story every time."

John winked at her. "So this isn't just a one off then? Are we going to make movie night a friendly thing that we do?"

"I like watching movies," she replied, rolling her eyes. "And on occasion, I might invite you over to watch them with me. But don't you dare think that I'm cooking you dinner every time either. I'm not that domestic."

"Oh no. Of course you're not. House, job, carpets." He picked up the wine glass and meandered over to the shelf where she kept her film collection. "The only thing that you're missing is the dog." He started to examine which titles she had.

"Or a cat," Rose replied, stirring the sauce. "For all you know, I could be the crazy cat lady."

Looking up at her, John smirked. "You most definitely have the crazy part right."

"You had better watch it, mister." She pointed the spoon threateningly at him. With a large plop, some of the sauce hit the counter top. "You never know what I'll put in your food. I think I have some tinned pears around here somewhere."

His nose crinkled in disgust. "Pears wouldn't be good with pasta. I'm sure there are much better things you could poison me with than that." Lifting his glass to his lips, he took a large drink and Rose stared at the way his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

Rose forced herself to turn around and focus on dinner, not the Doctor, no, John. The pasta was now perfectly al dente, and she began putting the finishing the touches on dinner. After dishing up the food, she added garlic bread to each plate.

When she finally turned around after several minutes, plates in hand, John was lounging on the sofa. He'd kicked off his shoes and his feet were resting on the coffee table, the remote in his hand. "So what movie did you choose?" she asked, handing him one of the plates before settling in on the opposite side of the couch.

"Thanks, this looks delicious." John licked his lips as he took the plate from her. "As for the movie… I was going to pick one of _your_ romantic comedies. Pillow Talk is a brilliant movie, by the way. I love Doris Day."

"Well, she is blonde. Seems to be your type," Rose mumbled into her wine. John must have brought it over while she was plating.

"What was that?" He shifted so he was sitting sideways with his back against the arm of the sofa. "Did you just imply I have a thing for blondes? Because that is simply not true." He feigned indignation. "I have a thing for brilliant, funny, spunky women. Also, I would think you were gorgeous no matter what color hair you had."

A blush crept up her cheeks. It was so easy to get caught up in this man's wake. He knew all the right things to say. All the things that she wished that the Doctor had said to her. John is not the Doctor, Rose thought to herself for what must have been the hundredth time today.

It was time to change the subject. "Who doesn't love Doris Day? Especially when paired with Rock Hudson? I love old Hollywood movies. Besides, I didn't say I didn't like romantic movies. It's just sometimes I like to watch a comedy or something with explosions."

He nodded slowly but there was a look in his eyes that indicted that he didn't quite believe her. "Well then, I'll have to see if I can find a copy of Send Me No Flowers, since your extensive collection seems to be lacking it. For tonight, however, I figured that a comedy was in order: a Mel Brooks classic."

Apparently, John had figured out how to work her overly complicated surround system/DVD combo because soon the familiar scrolling text filled the screen. Space Balls was the perfect choice for a little non-romantic relaxation. With a small sigh she sunk a little deeper into the cushion and tucked into dinner.

John had watched her out of the corner of his eye all night. He loved the sound of her laugh. He loved how she enjoyed the cheesiness of the movie and how she was unafraid to poke fun at the parts of the movie that were clearly impossible. And don't even get him started on how adorable she had looked with the dollop of whipped cream on the end of her nose.

He had pushed the boundaries with his comments tonight, but he couldn't help himself, no matter how hard he tried. There was no denying that he wanted her, in any way she would let him have her. Late nights in the lounge laughing, or going for a run in the morning, and maybe one day they could be more. He needed them to be more, needed her. Of course he would wait for her to sort out whatever she needed to sort out. No matter how long that took because Rose Tyler was worth the wait. She was worth fighting for.

At the end of the evening, when Rose could barely keep her eyes open, even if was only half ten, he bid her good night. "I'll see you in the morning, Rose, for our run." She trailed after him to the front door, probably to lock it behind him. "Unless, of course, you're going to want a lie in for being up so late."

"Oh, I'll be there, and I'll be the one leaving you in my dust." Her crooked grin made her all the more beautiful. Maybe he would let her beat him, just so he could enjoy the view.

"We'll see about that," he replied softly and leaned over to press a kiss to her cheek. "I'll see you in the morning."

Rose looked slightly bemused as he bounded down the stairs. He was happier in that moment than he had been in his entire life so far.

~oOo~

The moment that she got into the cab, Rose slipped out of her shoes and into the ballet flats that she had brought for just such an occasion. Normally, she wore something more practical than heels but when she had to meet an investor in Denver. That had meant a bumpy plane ride from the small airport nearby, heels and a business suit. But it had been a successful day that had ended with signed contracts.

Once she made it to the airport, she made it through security quickly and started the long trek through the terminal to where the local flights departed. Finally sinking into a chair across from her gate, her mobile chirped. It was a text from John.

_I missed you today._

Rolling her eyes, she started typing back.

_Don't you have better things to do than sit around missing me? :-p_

John had been doing little to hide his growing affections for Rose. He was very sweet, funny, and brilliant, and she enjoyed spending time with him. Enjoyed it a little too much, maybe.

Her phone alerted her to another message.

_The book was going gangbusters but my muse ran off to Denver_

She didn't have time to reply back before she got another message.

_Lunch and the cinema tomorrow? My treat…_

Her breath hitched. Up until now, Rose had insisted on going Dutch. John had been subtly hinting that he wanted to move them into the dating category even though she had asked him to give her time. He wasn't pushing her, but he wasn't shying away from spending time with her either. It had only been two weeks. How on Earth was she going to survive three months?

After that first movie night, they had gone for a run and had breakfast every morning. They were extremely competitive about it although Rose thought that he purposefully lost every now and then just so he could check out her bum, and maybe she had let him get ahead of her a few times so that she could do the same. She never just let him win, though. In the end, she'd fight him hard for the win. They hadn't been able to go for a run this morning because she had an early flight.

Their runs hadn't been the only time they spent together. One night they had met Clara at a local pub for drinks. He cooked her dinner and made a right mess of her kitchen in the process once. Enjoyed another movie night or two. On Halloween, Rose had pulled out this hideous dress that her mum had made her buy last winter. Jackie had insisted that it was haute couture. Rose thought the skirt looked like it was made from a down comforter. When John asked, she told him she was dressed as a sleeping bag. After composing himself, he disappeared for twenty minutes. When he came back he was wearing a heavy army green poncho and declared himself to be a tent. They had laughed for hours.

Last night, though, they had gone stargazing. John had an incredible knowledge of the stars. She wondered if any of that had come from the Doctor. Sometimes she couldn't tell the two apart, especially with John's minute mannerisms: the way he grinned, inflections in his voice, the way he varied the pressure while holding her hand depending on his mood. But that was impossible. The Doctor had said so himself.

 _Are you trying to complicate things?_ She typed back the response, hoping that he would take the hint.

Beep. _Me? Complicate things? Never._ _XD_

Rose giggled in spite of herself.

Her phone beeped again. _So friendly lunch and a film tomorrow?_

The voice of the flight attendant on the loud-speaker cut through the din around her. "Now boarding United flight 4723 from Denver to Gunnison, all seats."

_Sounds fun. Got to go, flight boarding. Come round 11 tomorrow. G' Night_

Rose grabbed her boarding pass, purse and computer bag and joined the short queue to board the plane. Once she was settled into her seat she pulled out her mobile to turn it off and found one last message.

_Can't wait. Have a safe flight._

Two more months, Rose thought with a sigh. She'd survived over a year mostly alone in the TARDIS with the Doctor where the sexual tension was palpable, and absolutely nothing had happened. Surely she could deflect John's charming advances for two more months. He's not the Doctor, not the Doctor, and in a few months he'll open the watch and John won't exist anymore. Rose had to keep reminding herself not to allow feelings to develop for a fictional man. But when faced with said fictional man in front of her it was hard to believe that there wasn't some part of the Doctor in John. The more time she spent with him the more the lines between John and the Doctor blurred.

No! This line of thinking wouldn't help. Friendship, that's all she wanted. That's all she could have. Absent-mindedly her left thumb rubbed the ring finger on the same hand. There were other obligations that she still had. One that was sitting right in a small velvet box in her safe right next to the Doctor's pocket watch.

She powered down her mobile and stuck it in her computer bag, missing another message by mere seconds. A message that would have alerted her that someone had just used an access code to gain entry to her home.

~oOo~

There was a feeling of anticipation and excitement filling John as he skipped up the steps to Rose's door. They had been growing closer over the last few weeks. Despite her protests that her life was too complicated to date anyone at the moment, they still spent copious amounts of time together. And if all she was willing to give right now was her friendship, he'd take it and hope that it could grow to something more.

He was whistling as his knuckles met wood. Almost immediately, footsteps sounded on her hardwood floors. As the door creaked open, he was ready to launch into a speech about the reviews for the movie that he had read online when he was greeted with by someone other than Rose.

"Oh. Hello. I um, didn't expect to see you here," said a very confused looking man whom John had never seen before. "What are you doing here, now? After all this time?"

John quickly appraised this new person. His dark hair was damp. With an angular jaw and bluish-green eyes, he didn't look like he could be related to Rose, even if he did have a London accent. Instantly he didn't like the man. It felt instinctual. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here? And while we're at it, who the hell are you?"

The man's eyebrows shot up. "You don't know who I am?"

"If I knew who you were, I wouldn't have asked." Even John was surprised by the harshness in his tone. "Where's Rose?"

"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I'm not exactly sure what's going on around here, but Rose is upstairs in the shower. I can go and get her if you want." The man stepped aside. "Would you like to come in, Doc..."

"It's Smith, John Smith," he snapped, pushing past this unknown element and heard the door close behind him. "You still didn't say who you are, or how you know Rose. Must not be all that important, seeing as we made plans and Rose didn't bother to mention you."

"Probably because she didn't know I was coming." The man chuckled and shook his head. "I'm Liam Donnelly, Rose's fiancé. Pleasure to meet you, _John_. Wait here a mo' and I'll grab Rose." Without another word he turned and went up the stairs.

At the word fiancé, John's heart dropped. Complicated. She had said her love life was complicated. Was Liam the reason? His eyes searched the dozens of photographs lining the walls. Surely if Rose were betrothed there would be a picture of him somewhere in the mass of photos.

And there it was, set on a side table near the front door. It was obvious that they were in London; Big Ben was in the background. Liam had Rose tucked against him on one side and on the other was a young blonde girl no more than eight years old.

Okay… so maybe complicated didn't just include a fiancé, maybe complicated meant a daughter too. How had he not seen this before?

Bloody hell.


	7. Chapter 7

**~oOo~**

The hot spray of the shower helped to release the tension in Rose's shoulders. Liam showing up last night had burst the bubble world that she had been living in since the TARDIS arrived in her basement. It had been easy to get swept off her feet by John. He reminded her so much of the Doctor was like when they weren't running for their lives.

But she had moved on with her life. Had moved on with Liam, loved him, helped to raise his daughter, and agreed to marry him. He wasn't just someone that she wanted to walk away from. Not when Liam hadn't been afraid to love her back.

Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped a towel around her. She needed time to think, alone. Maybe she could send Liam on an errand and steal away for a bit

"Rose, darling," Liam called, coming into her room. "I think we have a problem."

Unconsciously, she tightened the towel before responding. "Just got out of the shower, give me a minute." Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she stepped into her room where the tall broad-shouldered man that she still loved dearly stood leaning against the dresser. The expression on his face was one of worry, one he usually wore when his ex-wife was giving him grief over Sophie. "What's wrong?"

His body tensed momentarily. "The Doctor is downstairs. He's wearing jeans, not the suit that you said he normally wears, and he didn't know who I was. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

Dammit, just when she thought things couldn't get any worse. "What did you say to him? Did you call him Doctor? Shit." Her voice was frantic, hoping that Liam hadn't said anything to upset John.

"Calm down, Rose," Liam strode over to her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. His thumb drawing small circles on her collarbone. With that small, familiar gesture Rose felt herself relax. "Tell me what's going on and why the Doctor is suddenly back in your life and why you didn't mention it before."

Taking a deep breath, she began to tell him about the TARDIS landing in her basement and the Doctor needing to hide from the Family. "So he doesn't remember anything about his real life, all the things that he thinks he knows aren't real. And I haven't told anyone but Jack because I didn't want to put anyone else in danger because of this Family, least of all you and Sophie."

Reaching up, he caressed her cheek. "That's a lot to ask of you, keeping him safe from these people. Why you? Why not one of the dozen other friends he's met along the way?" Liam sighed. "He hasn't done anything more than send you flowers for ten years, and now he asks you to risk your life keeping him safe? You've moved on from him."

Rose had always known that Liam knew whom the flowers came from, even if he never asked and she never said. "The TARDIS picked me, not him. Maybe she missed me; maybe he missed me."

"So what?" Liam's brow furrowed, his eyes searching her face for something. "Have you two been seeing each other since he got here? Because he seemed pretty damn upset when I said I was your fiancé. I know what we said before you left, but I didn't think that this would happen."

All of the sudden she felt like she was on the defensive. It was this line of questioning that she was trying to avoid by not telling anyone, save Jack, that the Doctor was here. "No, we're just friends." She couldn't believe that he had told John about the fiancé thing, especially since, strictly speaking, it wasn't true. "Look, I'm not trying to start something back up with the Doctor…"

Something occurred to her. Something that Liam had said when he came into the room. "You said he didn't recognize you. He's never met you. How would he know who you were?"

It was Liam's turn to look defensive. His long fingers drummed on his thigh, a telltale sign that he was uncomfortable. She knew him well enough to know that he'd been caught hiding something from her. It wasn't something that he normally did. There were very few secrets between them. That was one of the things that she cherished the most about their relationship, their openness.

"I met him once," Liam whispered. "About two weeks after I proposed. I was leaving Sarah Jane's. I'd dropped off a book for Luke, walked outside and there it was, the TARDIS. And he was leaning against that blue box waiting for me."

"What did he say?"

"Same basic threat I got from everyone else. 'If you hurt her I'll make sure that you regret it'. Not that I didn't fully believe it from Jack or Mickey or your mum, but from him… I was pretty sure that I could have ceased to exist if he decided that I shouldn't." Liam shivered. "But there was something in his eyes when he said your name… I'll never forget that."

"But you didn't bother to tell me that you saw him!" Rose wasn't sure which was worse, Liam keeping this from her or the Doctor for thinking that he had the right to do that. She grabbed her undergarments from a drawer. Definitely the Doctor. He had no right to threaten Liam.

"Would it have mattered if I did?" Liam's voice was soft and gentle, and it made Rose angrier. Taking her clothes, she went into her walk-in closet to get dressed. The door slammed shut behind her. From the other side of the wood, he spoke again. "Would you have really wanted to know if he had come and he hadn't visited you? I know you. That would have hurt worse than him staying away completely. I promise that I wasn't keeping this from you because I wanted to cause you pain. Trust me, the opposite is true. I never want to see you hurt."

Rose halted while pulling on a pair of black trousers. He was right. She would have been distraught had she known that the Doctor had visited someone close to her but had avoided seeing her. Dammit, she wanted to stay mad. Liam using logic against her worked most of the time, and the Doctor wasn't really here for her to rage at.

Quickly, she finished getting dressed and stepped out of the closet.

"I'm still a little mad at you, at both of you." She poked Liam in the chest. "You, go downstairs and tell John I'll be down in a minute and play nice."

"I'm always nice," Liam countered before swooping down to give her a quick kiss. "However I'll promise not to say anything to purposely upset the Time Lord in hiding. I do want to talk more about this later though, sweetheart."

Rose rolled her eyes. "I figured as much. Now shift." Turning on her heel, she stalked off towards her en suite.

Thankfully, it didn't take Rose long to fix her hair, choosing to plait it while still slightly damp. These days she wore far less make up than she had when she was traveling through all of time and space. Within ten minutes, she was pulling on her boots and heading downstairs. Hopefully, Liam had stuck to his word and played nice. Not that he was ever really the jealous type. The Doctor, well her first Doctor, had been extremely jealous and from what Liam had said it seemed as if John had retained that particular trait. Fan-bloody-tastic.

At the bottom of the stairs she took a moment to quietly study the two men. Liam was on the sofa, one arm thrown across the back, his right ankle resting on the opposite knee, looking completely relaxed. On the other hand, John was leaning forward, elbows on his knees with his long fingers splayed across his face. Tension radiated off of him as he glared at the man across from him. Rose cleared her throat. John stood abruptly, almost tripping over himself. When his eyes locked with Rose's he grinned and relaxed slightly. From the sofa Liam gave her a lazy smile.

"You look amazing," John said hurriedly. "I mean… It's good to see you. I thought that we were going to the cinema. Wasn't expecting you to have company."

"Sorry 'bout that." Liam joined in the conversation without getting up. "I didn't let Rose know I was coming. Did I, darling? Thought I'd just surprise her."

She let out a sigh and then smiled at John. "Yep," the p popped in her typical fashion. "Total and complete surprise. So I'm sorry, but it looks like plans are going to have to change."

"I like a good film," Liam added, smiling cheekily. "Might be a nice outing."

"How long is he going to be here?" John addressed her, completely ignoring the other man.

"Don't know," Rose replied at the same time Liam said, "Might be making it permanent."

Rose narrowed her eyes at the dark haired man on the sofa. "Liam and I have a lot of things to discuss. I'm sorry, but I'll have to take a rain check on lunch." Reaching out, she laid a hand on John's arm to reassure him. "Hope you understand."

"Come on, flower," Liam said, finally standing up. "John's already here, and I'm a bit peckish. Why doesn't he join us for lunch?" Coming around to her side, he wrapped an arm around Rose's waist. "What do you say? Rose? John?"

A look of anger flared on John's face as he glared at Liam's hand on Rose. Suddenly having these two on the same planet didn't seem like a good idea, let alone at lunch. She was just about to decline when John looked up at her, and she could see him tamp down the jealousy. "Sounds great."

"There's a really good Chinese place near the resort," Rose added before anyone else could make a suggestion. The place had nothing but round tables, so there would be no fighting over who sat by her. "John, could you be a dear and grab my green jacket from the closet?"

"Of course," John replied softly before giving Liam a hard look and left the room.

When he was out of earshot, Rose rounded on Liam. One of her shapely eyebrows raised, and she tapped her foot impatiently. "Well?"

Liam grimaced. "He really doesn't like me. Are you sure that he's not the Doctor?"

"Stop being a knob, Li. I asked you to play nice." She couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"I thought I was being nice, inviting him to lunch and all." The grin on his face was far too adorable as a result Rose punched him in the arm to wipe it off of him. "Oi!" He rubbed his arm in mock hurt. "What was that for?"

"Just be normal, alright? Be your normal wonderful self and tonight when we're alone we'll talk about you and Sophie moving here." Her hands rested on his biceps. "I'm not something to be fought over, no matter how John acts. Okay?"

"Yes, ma'am." He leaned over to kiss her, and she turned her head and he caught her cheek.

~oOo~

The ride to the restaurant had been uncomfortable, at least for John. Liam had Rose laughing by the time that they had reached the end of her street. Honestly, John didn't think that it was a smart decision on the other man's part to cause the driver of a vehicle to cackle so hard she could barely breathe. It was dangerous, reckless, annoying and about twenty-seven other words that could express his displeasure but weren't polite to even think of in Rose's presence.

Once they made it to their destination, John scrambled out of the backseat in order to open her door for her. Part of him felt it was inane to feel so jealous of this other man. With her words, Rose had made it clear that she wasn't interested in a relationship. Then again, there was a simmering tension between them. He'd never force her into anything she was uncomfortable with of course, but he had been hoping to build something with her.

Then Liam had shown up.

From what he had gleaned both on the car ride and the conversation before ordering their meal was that Liam was a London solicitor who worked a lot of pro-bono bitter custody disputes. Liam had tried to downplay it, but Rose had gushed about the good work that he did for a living. A radiant smile had been plastered to her face when she explained to John that Liam took on the cases that no one else would. The ones where one party was rich or powerful and the other didn't have the means to pay a high priced lawyer. He was fighting for what was fair for everyone, and most importantly, so that children wouldn't be wrenched way from a loving parent.

Reaching over, Liam laid a hand on Rose's. "I'm no saint, Rose. Just someone with the means to help others where I can. It's not like I'm saving the Universe."

Beside him, Rose choked on her drink. Liam gently patted her back before turning to look at John. "Tell me about yourself, John. What do you do?'

"Travel mostly," John replied, taking a sip of his iced tea, not sure if he'd ever get used to that particular American beverage. Who had ever thought it would be a good idea to put ice in tea? Madness, absolute madness that was. "Traveling and writing about it. Telling people the best beaches to visit, the best places to have chips."

"Sounds interesting," Liam grinned and dropped an arm around Rose's shoulders. "What are some of your favorite destinations?"

"Spain is lovely, nice weather. I like the beaches in Nice, but there is something to be said about Raxacoricofallapatorious this time of year." He lifted his eyes and met Rose's gaze. Her face contorted in confusion.

Liam tried to wrap his mouth around the word. "Raxico… Racixio…"

"Raxacoricofallapatorious," Rose said softly. "Never heard of it. Where's that at?"

Wracking his brain, John couldn't seem to come up with the answer. "Somewhere in the former Soviet Union…I think."

Rose seemed to relax with his answer. "That sounds about right." Catching her tongue between her teeth, she smiled. That smile always seemed like it was reserved just for him. He hadn't seen her give it to Liam, at least not yet. His heart skipped a beat. What was it about this woman that drew him in so much?

Liam coughed, causing John and Rose to both look away from the other. "Anyway," John said, leaning back in his chair. "Right now I'm working on a book, a novel, a story. It's coming along rather well if I do say so myself."

"What's the book about? If you don't mind my asking." Liam scooted closer to Rose, leaning over slightly so he could look at the other man.

Suddenly unnerved, John tugged on his ear. He has only ever discussed his book with Rose and even then it has been in vague terms. "Well, you know… it's about the end of the world as seen through the eyes of God."

Rose snorted. "Fancy yourself a god, John?"

"Nah," he gave her lazy grin. "I'd make a terrible god, much too fallible, me. You though, Rose, would make a wonderful goddess."

"I don't doubt that," Liam replied, pressing a kiss into her hair. "Rose has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. It's why I love her so much."

Leaning over, Rose softly whispered, "I love you, too." It had sounded like a reflex for her to say that. Maybe she'd hoped that John wouldn't overhear, but he had and he was overcome with jealousy.

A tight silence fell over the table. Their food arrived a few minutes later, and they tucked in without anyone a word to each other. After several uncomfortable minutes, Liam excused himself when his mobile rang, leaving John and Rose alone for the first time that day.

"So engaged…wow," John stated softly, hurt creeping into his voice. "Liam appears to be a good bloke." He'd always prided himself as a good judge of character and as much as he hated to admit it, the other man genuinely seemed to be a decent guy.

"He's the best," Rose replied, eyes darting all around the room, looking at everything but the man sitting next to her. "We've been through a lot together, him and me."

A lump formed in his throat and his chest tightened thinking about the little girl in the photo. "How long have you two been together then?"

Sighing slightly, Rose said, "'Bout five years. The last one sort of off and on; long distance relationship, you know."

Some of the tightness eased slightly. So the child probably wasn't hers, at least not hers with Liam. She would have mentioned if she had a child. Wouldn't she? Maybe not. Probably not. It wasn't like she had been forthcoming with information on her fiancé. "Why didn't you just tell me?" The words left his mouth before he had a chance to stop them.

Rose gave a small, derisive laugh. "We've only just met, John, only known each other a couple of weeks. I told you before, I don't just spill my life story to everyone. I've told you more in the brief time I've known you than anyone else in town will ever know." She twisted her napkin in her hands. "And things with Liam are complicated."

"You keep saying that," John hissed. His anger and jealousy took over so that he hadn't actually listened to what she said. "It's like an excuse when someone wants to get close. You say it's complicated, and suddenly things are supposed to go away. If you weren't interested in me at all, then you should have just said something."

Looking up at him, there was fire in Rose's eyes. "My relationship with Liam has nothing to do with you and I've told you, numerous times, that all I wanted from you was your friendship. It's hardly my fault that you don't listen or think about anyone but yourself. Ever."

"Well, you hardly know me so you don't really get to judge me." Anger escalated and he wasn't able to tamp it down. "I've been nothing but open and honest with you since the day we met. You're the one hiding things. You're the one with all the secrets." Thankfully the restaurant was nearly empty since he was almost yelling. "I'm not the one who is stringing two men along because you can't decide which one you want. Just like you always do. Coz that's what you do, isn't it, Rose?" Resentment dripped off of his words and for a moment he felt like another man.

Fury radiated off of her as she slid her chair back from the table. "You are a right bastard. Do you know that? Never in my life have I ever been unfaithful to anyone, unlike you." Pulling out her handbag, she threw some money down on the table. "Call a cab to take you home. I'm done."

She stalked off and didn't look back. Somewhere in the back of his mind he pictured her doing something similar, dressed in different clothes, a rucksack on her back. It had been his fault then just as much as it was his fault now. When he blinked the image was gone, and all he was left with was regret. Where had those words come from? It was almost as if he was comparing her to a ghost. Someone who lived in his dreams.

Pushing his plate back, John lowered his head and started to bang it lightly on the table. He had potentially just ruined the best thing he had before he even really had it. Stupid, stupid man.

There was a shuffling sound as someone sat down at the table. "Sorry about that. My daughter, Sophie, called. If it's not one crisis it's another when you're ten," Liam said, and John looked up. "Where's Rose?"

John could feel the heat creep up his cheeks as he blushed. "We had… a difference of opinion, and she left. Didn't expect her to leave you behind, though."

A soft chuckle sounded from the other man. "I was gone for less than ten minutes, and you had a row. She can be a little hot tempered, my Rose. Especially if you goad her into it. Let me guess, it was about me."

How could this man sit here and calmly talk to someone who could potentially be a rival for his fiancé's affections? Someone who didn't see him as a rival, obviously. "How are you human?" Again, the words tumbled out of his mouth before his brain could catch up.

"I'm just as human as you are, maybe more so," Liam laughed and clapped him on the back. "Come on, let's call for a taxi. The wait will give Rose some time to cool off."


	8. Chapter 8

**~oOo~**

It was several hours later when Rose finally headed home. Her life hadn't felt quite this rocky in years, and she had needed time to think things through. She had needed time to try and find her center. For that reason, she had taken a long hike to her favorite thinking spot and had made a call to Jack. That impossible man would probably always be her biggest confidant, and having John say things that only the Doctor know had unnerved her. So much for a simple three month babysitting job.

Not to mention how angry she had become when he'd said those things. She may not be perfect, but she didn't deserve his scorn. Her jaw clenched once again when she thought about it. Okay, so maybe there had been a small point in there about stringing people along. She had never formally ended things with Mickey even if they both knew that things were over. If anything, they were officially exes when he hooked up with Trisha whatever her last name was. And she was certainly not the one who was holding back in her relationship with the Doctor.

Thankfully, John's SUV was gone when she pulled into her driveway. Right now she didn't want to hear the apology that she was sure John had been practicing since the moment that she left the restaurant. This human man was, unlike his fully Time Lord self, sometimes rude but never to her. John usually went out of his way to be polite to her and to act like a gentleman.

She cringed at the thought of abandoning both John and Liam like that. It had, however, been in everybody best interest that she left before she was arrested for slapping John in public. Besides, Liam had texted her less than an hour later that the two of them had arrived back safely and with nary the argument between them. Liam had changed a lot since she'd met him and all for the better.

Stepping out of her own vehicle, she winced when she put pressure on her left ankle. She'd rolled it coming down the trail. It's what she got for wearing dress boots rather than her hiking ones. It took a little extra time but she made it up the steps and into her house.

"Hello?" Rose called, setting down her handbag. "Liam, are you here?" There was nothing but silence. Last night he had taken a taxi from the airport so he had no car but it was only a short walk into town. If he had gone out he probably couldn't have gone far.

The pain in her ankle had already begun to lessen as she made it to the freezer for a cold compress. By tomorrow or the next day it should be healed properly. Maybe there was something in the TARDIS' med bay that she could use as a wrap in the meantime.

Opening the door to the basement, she was astounded to find Liam sitting quietly on the bottom of the steps. His eyes focused on the blue police box in front of him. Gently, she sat down a few steps down from the top, slipped off the boot on the offending ankle and applied the compress. Then she watched him watch the TARDIS.

Liam shifted, turning his body slightly. "All these years, all those things that have happened, all those stories from you, Aunt Sarah Jane, Jack, Mickey, and Martha. I just didn't get it." He paused, and Rose waited for him to speak again. "I told you I'd seen this ship once before, the night the Doctor came to call, but I hardly noticed her before. Which strange because right now I can feel it. Feel all that power radiating from it. It's… oh, what's the right word…"

"Beautiful," Rose whispered with a soft smile.

"More like terrifying, I think." Liam's voice was solemn. "You really tore open the ship's heart and took in all that power? How did you survive?"

She sighed. The only people that she had ever discussed the events on the Games Station with were Liam and Jack. Her mum would have been terrified with the knowledge, and the Doctor hadn't deemed it important enough to talk about. Or he hadn't deemed her important enough to know what she had truly done. Either way, it didn't really matter now. There was too much water under that bridge.

"I don't know, really. We never actually talked about it. I mean, I remember parts of what happened." Ever since the TARDIS had landed here her dreams had been filled with dreams about her time as Bad Wolf. "And now I remember the Doctor taking the power of the Vortex from me." Unconsciously she raised her fingers to her lips. "I know that that is what made the Doctor regenerate. Saved his life just to kill him a few minutes later. I, apparently, escaped unscathed."

Tears pricked her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if he resented me for that. If that's why he pushed me away." A wave of admonishment came from the ship at the bottom of the stairs, and Rose stared in wonder. She'd never felt the TARDIS in her mind outside of the ship before they had arrived here a few weeks ago. Since the ship had landed, Rose had felt that familiar, gentle nudge of the old girl in the back of her mind. Not to mention the TARDIS managed the translations of alien languages from great distances, an ability that she hadn't lost when she left the Doctor.

Liam began to speak again, breaking Rose from her thoughts. "Is that why you heal faster now? I mean faster than an average human." He was fully facing her now.

"How do you know about that?" It's not that it was a secret, but she herself hadn't figured it out until she had moved to Colorado.

He shrugged. "I'm not stupid, Rose."

"I never said that you were."

"In five years you never got so much as a cold. Even when Soph and I had that really bad flu, you were the picture of health. Not to mention you broke your wrist on one of your weekend alien hunting trips with Jack. What? Less than a week before you moved here. And I was looking at picture you sent Sophie two weeks later and there was no cast on your arm." There was a moment's pause before he spoke again. "When did you find out?"

"Not until the break healed." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Martha wanted me to see a physician when I got her. Went in to have it X-rayed a few days after I moved into the house, and there was no break. The doctor couldn't even see evidence that one had ever been there. I lied and told him it had been a hairline fracture, and my records must have been wrong because it was a month or so since I'd been hurt."

She moved the compress off of her foot. "I was so scared of what that meant. Called Martha immediately and she was on the next flight out. She turned this room into a laboratory and ran every test she could think of."

Liam scooted up a couple of steps. "What did she find?"

"Nothing really. Everything came back normal except that my rate cellular decay has slowed dramatically."

"So you're like Jack?" He reached over and tenderly touched her injured ankle.

Rose shrugged. "Don't know if I'm immortal and to tell you the truth, it's not a theory I want to test."

"Why didn't you tell me?" His fingers caressed her no longer throbbing ankle.

"I didn't know how. No one knows outside of Martha, Mickey and Jack." Cocking her head to the side, she studied him. "How do you tell someone you love that you're probably going to outlive them by decades? How do you even reconcile that within yourself?"

"Oh, Rose." Liam enveloped her in a tight hug. "I would have understood. I love you, unconditionally."

She pulled back and looked deep into his eyes, and she suddenly knew what it must have felt like to be the Doctor.

~oOo~

"Rose! No!" John sat bolt upright in his bed, sweat dripping off his brow. His hands fumbled in the dark seeking the lamp. With a small click, the soft light almost blinded him. He blinked rapidly, letting his eyes adjust and then grabbed his journal. Charcoal pencil in hand, he sketched a face he'd drawn an insane amount of times since he'd met her.

But this time it was different, her mouth was downturned, hurt radiating from her eyes. She was sad, and it was his fault. He wasn't sure what he had done but he knew to his core that he was the cause of her pain. Flipping a page he began another sketch, this one of a man, dressed in period clothing, pre-revolutionary France, his face set behind a bizarre mask. A robot, he was a robot, an enemy of the Doctor, the madman that John sometimes he dreamed he was. A man who always hurt the ones that he loved most.

Behind the clockwork man, John drew a fireplace, an old ornate thing. Beside it, he wrote the words _regret, mistakes, Rose taken for granted._ Slamming the journal shut, he jumped up and started pacing the room. What did it all mean?

Raking his fingers through his hair, he pulled on his trainers and grabbed a jumper to pull over his vest top. It had been a chilly night, and he'd worn sweats to bed. No time like four o'clock in the morning when it is freezing outside to go for a run to clear your mind.

~oOo~

Rose pulled on her lightweight jacket, completing her running outfit. Part of her wondered if John would be joining her this morning. Another much larger part didn't want to see him just now.

She didn't fancy seeing anyone right now. Last night after their talk in the basement, Liam had wanted to discuss him and Sophie moving here on a permanent basis now that all the custody issues had been sorted. A year ago, Rose would have wanted nothing more than to marry Liam and help him raise his daughter. There had even been talk of future children together.

Now though, Rose was slightly hesitant and she didn't know why. Most people would believe that the arrival of the TARDIS was what had caused this trepidation. Rose knew, however, that that was only a small part of it. And now she needed time, alone, to clear her mind.

After grabbing her mobile and leaving a note for the man sleeping upstairs, Rose left for her run.

John wasn't waiting for her on the sidewalk and she was just a little bit disappointed. She shoved her ear buds into place and cranked the music on her iPod. Maybe the thrumming backbeats of the upbeat pop songs would drown out the thoughts filling her head.

Today, she chose to take one of her favorite paths. It was rocky and took a steep incline, but the view from the top was spectacular. Rose shut herself off to everything except from stimuli in her immediate vicinity, her feet hitting the ground, the clean, crisp air filling her lungs and the music in her ears. She was about two miles in when she found him lying in the middle of the path in a pool of blood.

"Doctor," she cried dropping to her knees beside the Doctor's prone body. His breathing was shallow, and his lips were tinged blue. "Oh god, John, don't do this to me." His pulse was thread and he was bleeding from his left temple. She had no idea how long he had been out here, and she was afraid. What would happen to the Doctor if this human body died? Surely John couldn't regenerate.

Pulling out her mobile, she dialed 999 before remembering this was America and they used 911. She was trembling as she kept the phone to her ear and took off her jacket to wrap around John. He was wearing sweat pants, a t-shirt and a thin jacket. The lady at the call center advised Rose not to move him since they weren't sure of the extent of his head injury but to monitor his breathing and try to keep him warm while they waited for emergency services to arrive.

It took everything that Rose had in her not to snap at the woman on the other end of the phone. After all of the scrapes that she had gotten into with the Doctor, Rose most likely knew more about first aid than most people. Still she needed to tamp down the panic that was rising in her. Had this been the Doctor she would have just dragged him back to the TARDIS. John's human body was much more fragile.

"Rose," he moaned.

"I'm here, John, and help is on the way. You'll be alright. One way or another, I promise you that you'll be alright." Reaching under the jacket draped across his chest, she found his hand and entwined her finger with his. "I've got you."

It was an agonizingly slow wait for the arrival of the ambulance to reach the base of the trail and then for the EMTs to hike in the two miles to them. Time slowed down and seconds ticked by like hours as they started the IV and began the arduous trek back down the narrow trail.

It all felt surreal. They'd both been in far worse danger before. Hell, the Doctor had died and regenerated in front of her, but this felt different, scarier. Rose followed behind them, reminding them for the third time that he was allergic to aspirin and refused to take no for an answer when they tried to stop her from getting in the ambulance. John continued to moan her name all the way to the hospital. His hand was still tightly clasped in Rose's while she listened to the EMT's talk about his low blood pressure and his lowered core temperature. If they only knew how much lower his body temperature was when he was his fully alien self.

"Hold on, John. We'll get to the hospital soon, yeah? You're not going to die, not on my watch," Rose said softly, more to comfort herself than to him. "I can't lose you now."


	9. Chapter 9

John's dreams of the Doctor haunted him even now while his human life threatened to slip away.

_He was the Doctor again. He could see time stretch out in front of him, feel the turn of the Earth beneath his feet, but he couldn't stop her from leaving him. She just kept walking away, his perfect Rose. Pain, hurt and sadness, he could feel them all as he watched her leave him. But they weren't just his feelings, they were hers too. He'd hurt her, pushed her away until she broke._

_"Rose," he called after her, but she didn't come back to him, didn't even turn around. She just kept moving forward, moving away from him._

_Her voice was carried on the wind. "Have a fantastic life." How could he possibly do that without her?_

_~oOo~_

Liam pulled Rose's SUV into a parking spot outside the Emergency Room. When she had called him earlier, he could hear the panic in her voice. Rose Tyler didn't do scared, at least not very often. There had been an accident and John had lost a lot of blood, not to mention being exposed to the elements for God knows how long. Thankfully it hadn't been later in the season or he'd be a goner for sure. As it was, it was touch and go. Things were so bad that Rose had asked him to bring the fob watch. She hadn't said exactly why she needed it but if he had to guess, he'd say it was to bring the Doctor back before John died. Better to regenerate than die altogether.

There had been a moment, a brief moment, when Liam had contemplated denying her request and letting nature take its course. However, that wasn't the kind of man he was. The Universe needed the Doctor and who was Liam Donnelly to let him die?

Not to mention that Aunt Sarah Jane would box his ears, or worse.

With the fob watch safely tucked in an inside coat pocket, Liam made his way inside the hospital to find Rose.

She was pacing in the waiting room. Quietly, he walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "How is he?" he asked quietly.

"Thank god you're here." She buried her head in his chest. "It's bad, really bad. He lost a lot of blood, and I'm not sure how long he was out there before I found him. If I hadn't picked that trail…."

"Don't think like that," he whispered, one of his hands rubbed her back soothingly. "You found him, and he'll be fine."

With a nod, Rose pulled back from the hug. "Did you bring the watch?" She wiped a few stray tears away from her eyes.

"Yeah, course." He dug in his pocket and pulled out the heavy metal object and held it out to her. For a moment, she hesitated before taking it.

"Thank you for bringing it. I would have gotten it myself but… Just having it here, I don't feel so helpless." Looking up at him, one corner of her mouth twitched. "It must have been hard for you to not toss it out the window on your way here."

Liam chuckled. "I won't say it didn't cross my mind, but I'm must admit I was a little afraid of what would happen to me if I chucked away the consciousness of the last of the Time Lords."

A soft sob escaped Rose's throat. "I'm pretty sure that there are several planets where you would be heralded as a hero for that." She forced herself to relax a little and let him lead her to a chair. "I can think of half a dozen off the top of my head that have banned us, and I only travelled with him for a little over a year. Imagine how many he managed to tick off in 900 years." Her hands tightened on the watch.

"Probably half as many as he saved, darling." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and noticed how cold she was. "What happened to your jacket?"

"Hmm?" She had been gazing at the watch but her eyes shot up to meet his. "Oh, I used it to try and keep the Doctor warm when I found him. It was still with him in the ambulance. Don't know where it's gotten to now."

His arm tightened around her. "Well, I can't have you catching a chill. It's bleeding cold in here." Shrugging out of his coat, he wrapped it around her shoulders. "I'll go see what they have in the gift shop. You fancy a cuppa too?"

"Yeah," she said with a small nod. "That'd be great. Thanks, Li."

~oOo~

_He needed to give her a few days apart from him. Maybe if he gave her some space she would come back to him. Maybe he could think of some way to convince her how much he needed her. The Doctor in the TARDIS with Rose, as it should be._

_Seven years, not seven days. How could he be so stupid? Big gigantic brain of his and he couldn't get the date right!_

_Rose's mother hadn't been surprised to see him. Had, in fact, nattered on about all the things that had happened since his last visit a few months ago. Apparently, he would go back into his own timeline, but why hadn't she asked him where Rose was? Surely if this was a one off trip into his future, he would have had Rose with him normally._

_The answer to that question came in the form of a photograph. A man the Doctor had never seen before stood behind Rose, his arms wrapped low around her waist. His mind barely registered Jackie saying something about Rose's boyfriend through his hurt. He'd messed up the date when trying to get back, and she had moved on._

_Had she thought that he'd forgotten about her? That he would give up on her that easily?_

~oOo~

If it hadn't been for the sterile white walls and the constant, low beeping of the medical equipment, Rose could have convinced herself that this was Christmas ten years ago, the Doctor peacefully sleeping after his regeneration and Rose completely in the dark as to what to do next. That time she hadn't known what to do either.

It looked like he had been out for an early morning run and had fallen. His temple had struck a rock when he landed. Facial wounds tended to bleed profusely and that's why he'd lost so much blood. The doctors theorized that he had to have been there for at least an hour, if not more. The doctors said that John had been lucky to be found when he was and that he should make a full recovery. Part of her was worried about what effects the blood transfusion that he'd required would do to his body once he became a full Time Lord again. Or would the blood have cycled out of his body by then?

Her fingers tightened around his hand, willing him to wake up even though the she had been assured that he would most likely sleep through the night. Still, she wanted to see for herself that he was alright. It had been nearly twelve hours since she had found him lying on that mountain trail, and the light peeking the windows told her that dusk was beginning to fall.

Inside the pocket of the fleece jacket that Liam had bought her at the gift shop sat the Doctor's consciousness in the form of the fob watch. She had been tentative about taking it when Liam had brought it earlier because she remembered what had happened the last time she touched it. Later she had asked him if he heard anything when he held it. When he'd said no, she thought that she must just be a nutter then.

Or maybe it was just her that could connect to the Doctor in the watch. Every time she held it she could hear his voice in her head, and she would see flashes of what were presumably his memories. She couldn't make much sense of what she saw, but she could hear the longing in his voice when he said her name.

Part of her felt guilty for leaving the Doctor alone, but she had made her choice just as he had made his. Besides from what she had been able to piece together, the Doctor had started traveling with Martha fairly soon after she left. Certainly there had been many more in the years since. If she had learned nothing else in the last decade, it was that she was just one in a long line. Rose stood up, let go of his hand and went to stand by the window. Her back was to the man lying in the bed.

This, her life, her relationships with John, Liam and the Doctor, everything it was all so bleeding complicated. She had been happy here, a little lonely perhaps being so far from home. Overall, however, she had been happy.

Then the TARDIS had landed in her basement, and the Doctor had breezed back into her life in the form of John Smith. She felt alive again when she was with him. Despite the claim that the Doctor had made in his message to her, that John was in no way the Doctor, he was so wrong. Every day, she had seen the Doctor poking through. John was that part of the Doctor that he never let himself be. It had been so easy to fall down that rabbit hole again.

Reality had slapped her in the face when Liam arrived. Her sweet Liam, who was currently on a coffee run while she stays at another man's bedside. She loved him and Sophie. They had been a family. They were still such a big part of her life and always would be. Things may not have worked out the way that she thought they would but that didn't mean that she should just walk away. Did it?

"Excuse me, ma'am," a nurse said from the doorway. "Visiting hours will be ending in fifteen minutes."

Rose blinked in surprise. "Oh, I thought visitors were allowed till half nine. It's not even six."

"Not on Sundays, visiting hours end at six on Sundays." She walked over and pushed a syringe into John's IV line. "Just something to let him sleep a little longer and let him heal a little more and you won't miss him waking up."

Disappointment filled her. "If he does wake up before I get back, will you... will you tell him that Rose was here and that I'll be back as soon as I can?"

"Yes ma'am," the nurse responded before making a notation on John's chart.

~oOo~

_Engaged. She was engaged to that man, that simple human man and the Doctor felt something inside him shatter. Rage, hurt, grief, defeat and overwhelming sorrow filled him. He beat a hasty retreat from Jackie's flat. There was no doubt in his mind that he was running away. As much as he begrudgingly liked the woman, he couldn't stand around and listen to her yammer on about her daughter's wedding ideas._

_It was only a small star in a long dead solar system. No indigenous people would be harmed by the sun's destruction. Standing in the open doorway of the TARDIS while the ship orbited the now dying sun, he could feel the power of what he had done. Blowing up a sun did little to soothe the irrational sensation of utter betrayal that he felt. He knew that even eight years on for her and fifteen or so for him since they had parted ways, that she had no obligation to him. He had betrayed her first, made his bed and now he had to lie in it. That knowledge didn't make any of this less painful._

~oOo~

"I've been meaning to ask you," Liam began as he pulled onto the main road, heading towards the hospital the following morning. "Your engagement ring, why aren't you wearing it?"

Rose turned away from the window to look at him. "You want to talk about this now? The Doctor, I mean, John is in hospital."

"I know that." A muscle twitched in Liam's jaw as he clenched his teeth. "But we need to talk about this. I have to go back to London in a few days and I was hoping to have things settled between us before I left. I spent the last year working the system to get the last of Gemma's visitation rights revoked so that Sophie and I could join you out here and I arrive to find you babysitting the Doctor and not wearing your engagement ring. Part of me can't help but wonder if the two things aren't related."

'Well, they're not," Rose countered tersely before turning back towards the window. "Can we please just not do this right now?"

Liam sighed, not quite ready to give up on this conversation. However he knew Rose well enough to know that any attempts at rational conversation wouldn't go over well right now. "Fine, I'll drop it for a little while, but you can't just push me out forever."

"Thank you," Rose whispered, leaning her head against the glass.

For the rest of the drive, Liam kept stealing glances at her, wondering what she was thinking, what she was feeling. As he pulled up in front of the hospital once more, he noticed that she tensed. When she stood outside of John's room she looked slightly apprehensive. After Rose sat down next to the bed and curled her fingers around the sleeping man's hand, he watched her relax for the first time since they had gone home last night. A bitter pang of jealousy punched him in the gut. He hated having to stand here and watch his fiancée comfort another man. And not just any man at that.

"Rose, darling, I'm going to grab a cuppa from the canteen. Can I get you something?" He needed to get away from the room before he said something he might regret or do something to the unconscious man.

She didn't turn to look at him. "Sounds great, thank you."

Slipping from the room, Liam knew that he might just have a fight on his hands. A fight that he didn't intend to lose.

~oOo~

_He shouldn't be here. It wasn't his place to say anything to this man. Yet he still waited for Rose's betrothed outside the house of one of his dearest friends. He wanted to blame Sarah Jane for this. For introducing Rose to her godson. For encouraging Rose to move on from him._

_But that wasn't fair. He would keep his anger directed at the man who had the life that he wanted, a life with Rose in it on a daily basis. It was the kind of like that he could never have and the Doctor would make sure that Liam Donnelly would know that there would be consequences if he ever hurt Rose._

_The Doctor's perfect Rose._

_~oOo~_

There was something warm and soft in his hand, his fingers instinctively curled around it as he began to stir. Eyelids began to flutter as he slowly opened his eyes. For a moment his vision was blurry, and he couldn't make out anything but shapes. His throat burned, and his mouth was dry. "Water," he said in a raspy voice as he tried unsuccessfully to sit up.

A straw was at his lips. "Slow sips," a familiar reassuring female voice soothed him. "Liam, go get a nurse, please," she ordered someone else who was in the room.

His head felt fuzzy and like it weighed a ton. He raised his fingers to his temple, trying to rub away the dull ache. "Ow," he flinched when he made contact with his head and the dull pain was replaced with a searing one.

"Careful, John, you took a pretty nasty fall, and you don't want to pull out the stitches," Rose's voice calmly reassured him as she took his hand. Her name was Rose, he remembered that now. But he didn't remember where he was or how he had gotten here.

"Where am I?" he asked softly.

Her fingers clenched around his and she set down the cup of water. "There was an accident. You're in hospital." That was all she was able to tell him before a doctor and two nurses pushed past her and relegated her to a corner of the room with another man. Liam, that man was Liam, Rose's sort of fiancé. Everything was flooding back now and he could answer all the questions that he was now being bombarded with by the medical staff. He kept his eyes on her whenever he could. After several minutes of being poked and prodded, the medical professional declared that he was doing well and could continue to have visitors as long as no one upset the patient.

"Shouldn't you be at work today?" John asked softly when there were only three people left in the drab hospital room.

Her grin looked a bit forced. "Called in sick. I didn't..." She turned and looked over her shoulder at the other man. "We, Liam and I, didn't want you to wake up alone." Walking over, she laid a hand on John's arm. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I fell and hit my head," he chuckled dryly, "second time that's happened since I met you."

Rose's hand clenched on his arm. "Only this time you could have... you could have died."

He had to look away from her for a moment. The hurt and fear in her eyes was almost too much to bear. "Just a bit jeopardy friendly, me."

Rose's hand fell from his arm and she turned to look away, distracted. Before she could say anything else Liam spoke up. "We're glad you're alright, mate. Both of us have been here the entire time. Except for when they made us go home last night. But we came back as soon as visiting hours opened up."

"Glad you're gonna be alright." Rose shifted her stance, looking more confident. "Don't scare me like that again, mister."

Painfully, John nodded. "I'll try, Rose. No guarantees though." He licked his dry lips. "I like a life of adventure." His eyes began to drift shut and sleep tried to drag him back under. There was the sound of a chair scraping across the floor and he felt a small hand fit into his. Rose squeezed and he let himself fall back to sleep, letting his mind and body heal.

His hand slackened in hers, and Rose sighed. It was scary that even being awake for that short period of time, forty-five minutes maybe, had taken so much out of him. The hand not holding his pulled the pocket watch from her pocket.

"Do you think we're out of the woods for needing the watch?" Liam asked, leaning up against the wall.

Nodding slightly, Rose spoke, "I think so. The doctors said that once he woke up and was coherent, we'd most likely be out of the woods. And even in this form, the Doctor's strong, you know."

"So I've been told," he replied dryly, pushing off the wall and crossing the room. "Do you want me to take the watch back home? Put it back in the safe?" He wrapped his fingers around her hand and the watch.

Immediately, Rose wrenched her hand away. "No! I mean not right now, Li." She took a shaky breath. "I'll put it back later, when they release him from hospital. Thank you for offering. I just want to take care of it myself. Alright?"

Liam held up his hands in surrender. "Sure, no problem. I'm feeling a bit peckish. I'll just head down to the café and grab a bite. You want anything?"

Rose turned to him and grinned. "That'd be great. Not sure what they have today but just grab what you think I'd like. You know well enough."

Without answering, Liam turned and headed out of the hospital room. At the door he stopped and turned to look at the woman he loved sitting vigil at 'the Doctor's' bedside. Maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought he did. Or maybe this was just another manifestation of the compassionate woman he'd always known. Either way, he wasn't just going to let her slip through his fingers.

A few hours later, after Liam had come to take Rose home and the nurse had gone back to her station, there was no one around to hear John Smith softly call out for the woman he loved in a language that no one left in the Universe spoke.


	10. Chapter 10

~oOo~

He bloody hated this place. Hospitals in general gave him the creeps, and John had been stuck in this one for four days. Granted, he'd only been conscious for three of them but still. Rose had been here all day the first three days. Today, however she had to go back to work for some big meeting. He missed her, missed the way she had sat here and talked to him until the nurses had kicked her out. Of course Liam had been here the entire time too, hovering over her, getting her tea and bringing Rose something to eat when she was hungry. All of those were things that John would have done himself if he wasn't ordered to rest.

What did that man have that he didn't?

Rose, apparently.

That thought made him sick with jealousy. So what if Liam had been engaged to her before? It's not like Rose wore an engagement ring. Nor had she formally acknowledged that type of relationship with that man.

Disgusted with that train of thought, he pulled out the notebook and a pencil that he had begged off one of the nurses. The dreams that he'd had since he was knocked unconscious had been vivid and agonizing. Only when he woke up the details had fallen away. The names and faces of people that he could recall when he was unconscious were blank now, everyone except Rose that is.

Nimbly, his fingers flew over the page sketching a blue box that was less of a wooden object and more of a magic carpet. It was a spaceship that was able to take the Doctor anywhere in time and space that he wanted except back into his own past. It could never take the mysterious alien back to right his many wrongs.

…

Liam stood in the doorway of the hospital room watching the Doctor or John or whoever he was. He wasn't sure how comfortable he was with this man hanging around Rose. Naturally, it was Rose's choice who she associated with, and Liam was friendly with all of the other former companions he'd met. It was just the Doctor that he was unsure of. He knew that Rose had been in love with him, and from what Jack had said the feelings may have been mutual. Well, they had both made their own choices, and Rose had agreed to marry him and not the Doctor.

As much as Liam may not like that this man was here, John was important to Rose. So he had to make nice while John was here. However he didn't have to stand by and let John think Rose was available or that John could just flirt with someone else's fiancée.

It's not like the Doctor himself hadn't been overprotective of her as well. His thoughts drifted back to the very first time he met the Doctor.

_"Make sure you have Rose ring me tomorrow," Sarah Jane Smith reminded him as she helped him on with his coat. "I still don't know why you didn't bring her with you tonight. It's been too long since I've seen her."_

_Liam Donnelly had to lean over to kiss the older woman on the cheek. "I told you, Aunt Sarah Jane, Rose had a meeting at work tonight. One that she couldn't miss. Then she had to pick up Sophie from the nanny. I'll make sure she calls you this weekend. Maybe you two can go to lunch and Rose can show off that truly magnificent ring she's now sporting on her lovely finger."_

_"It's about time you made an honest woman out of her," Sarah Jane said with a wink as she opened the front door and hugged her godson one more time. "I expect the three of you for tea soon too."_

_"Of course." Liam waved from the front step. "See you soon." Only after the door had shut behind him did Liam notice anything out of the ordinary. The air was heavy and still, without the slightest hint of a breeze. A lock of his jet black hair fell across his forehead, and he felt tingling electricity all around him._

_At first, his eyes slid past the blue box sitting on the corner only a few meters away from his car. Only when there was a movement in the shadows did Liam's green eyes fixate on the Police Box and its owner. Liam felt a tightening in his gut as he took in the imposing sight of the thin man wearing a brown pinstriped suit, long brown coat and trainers who was standing in front of him. This had to be the infamous Doctor. The very version that Rose had seen him regenerate into. The man who had abandoned her to die. The man who had made no attempts to contact her in the last eight years aside from sending her flowers._

_An incredibly passive aggressive move if you asked him._

_Coming to stand a few feet in front of the Doctor, Liam appraised the man. At first glance he would have appeared to be any normal human bloke, even if he was a tad too skinny. Conversely, there was an aura around him that was tangible and dangerous. This was not a man that you ever wanted to cross. The Doctor was also a man that Rose had loved and would always, in some small way, love. Not the way she loved Liam, of that he was certain. Nevertheless, even if she had left the Doctor there was still one infinitesimally small part of Liam thought she might want to run away with him again._

_To see the stars, of course, not to rekindle something from so many years ago._

_"Why are you here? Why now?" Liam asked._

_The Doctor's eyes narrowed. "You know exactly why I'm here." He paused and storm clouds seemed to gather in the Time Lord's eyes. "Rose Tyler." There was something about the way the Doctor said her name. The words were filled with emotion: intense love, regret, remorse, sadness and even a veiled threat._

_A shiver swept through Liam's body, and the cold suddenly chilled his bones. He wasn't going to let himself be intimidated by this man. Not now, now that he and Rose and the family that they were building together were happy. "Do you think that you can just swoop in and take her back after all this time? You haven't said one word to her since she left you. Haven't made one single attempt to see her and now you want to show up here and attempt to take away the happiness that she deserves. Try to push back into the life that she's built without you. I won't let that happen."_

_"I'm not here to take her back," the Doctor growled angrily. "I'm here to warn you." He clenched his jaw before he spoke again. "Rose deserves to be happy and for some reason she chose you to spend her life with. You seem like a decent enough ape, but that doesn't mean that I like you or your relationship with Rose."_

_The Doctor's jaw clenched, and he ground his teeth. "I've come to realize that she has the right to make her own choices in life. I have to respect her decisions. That being said, if you hurt her, in any way, I won't even give you the chance to live to regret it." Storm clouds swirled above them. "Are we clear?"_

_Liam wanted to assure this alien man that he would never hurt Rose the way that the Doctor had. Would never leave her behind to fall into the arms of another woman. Would never lie to her about his past the way that the Doctor had. Would never just leave unless Rose asked him to and even then he wouldn't give up without a fight. This, however, did not seem like a good time poke at the obviously powerful man._

_"Clear as crystal," he finally replied tersely. The two men glared at each other for a moment until the ringing of Liam's mobile broke the moment._

_It was some atrocious song that Rose had picked to be her specific ringtone, and Liam always smiled when he heard it. Even that one time it rang in the middle of a court proceeding, and he was sufficiently chastised for it. Without another thought to the man with the TARDIS, Liam answered the call. "Hello, sweetheart," he greeted her, walking to his car. "No, I'm just leaving now. Be home soon and then we'll go for dinner." He slid behind the wheel and turned over the engine. "Absolutely. That Thai place that you like is great….. Love you, too."_

_Liam took one last look at the spot where the time ship had been only to find it had gone. That was probably for the best. From what he had heard it wouldn't be hard for the Doctor to make it so that he would never have been born. As he drove home to his fiancée and daughter, he could only hope to never ever encounter the Time Lord again._

_He really should have known better than to ever say 'never ever'._

Pushing off the door frame, Liam stepped fully into the room. "You look like you're doing better."

On the bed, John jumped in surprise. "I didn't know that you'd be coming by." He hastily shoved some papers aside. "Is Rose with you?"

"No, Rose is still at work." John's face fell, and Liam couldn't help but smirk. Laying a Ziploc bag full of grapes on the bedside table, Liam sat down in a chair near the bed.

"Grapes?" John asked, picking up the bag.

Liam shrugged. "It's the British thing to do, isn't it?"

The corners of John's mouth twitched. "Did you know that Romans…"

"That Romans started the tradition because they didn't know that it was fermentation process that made alcohol. They just believed that the grape was full of it naturally, and since alcohol gives people the warm fuzzies they believed that grapes had healing powers." Liam shrugged again. "I'm a bit of a trivia buff."

"So it seems," John agreed. An uncomfortable silence fell between them. It made John antsy. He hated sitting still under any circumstances. "Why, exactly, are you doing here?" John asked after a few moments.

With a smirk, Liam replied. "It's about Rose."

"You said she wasn't here." John looked towards the door, hoping to see her there.

"She's not," Liam replied curtly. "I needed to talk with you alone about Rose. About your relationship with her."

John stiffened. "I hardly think that is any of your business."

"Isn't it? Rose and I are engaged to be married." Liam leaned forward in his chair.

"Does that mean that you own her? That you get to decide who she chooses to be friends with?" John demanded, anger seeping into his voice.

For his part, Liam sounded calm. "No one owns or controls Rose. I certainly wouldn't even want to try that, not with her, not with anyone."

"Don't like her having male friends then?"

"Not at all, Rose has several close male friends, one of whom is an ex-boyfriend. I have no issue with any of them." Liam smiled. "Rose is magnetic. She draws people in, and she's amazing. She's sweet, funny, kind and always willing to help others, and if all you wanted from my fiancée was her friendship, I'd have no problem with that. The problem is that you want more from her."

"I don't see her wearing an engagement ring," John spat. "Seems to me that she doesn't consider herself to be engaged anymore."

"And you've heard her say that? Because Rose hasn't said anything of the sort to me," Liam countered.

John clinched his fists. "If she didn't consider herself available, she would have told me."

"From what I've heard, she told you that she just wanted to be your friend, but you wouldn't take no for an answer." Liam fought hard to keep his voice calm. He knew that Rose hadn't been unfaithful; that wasn't who she was. That didn't mean that the Doctor, or John really, hadn't tried to seduce her.

"She told me to give her time," John said through gritted teeth.

Liam chuckled. "Have you ever seen the movie The Princess and the Frog? It's one of my daughter's favourites. She and Rose watch it all the time."

"I've seen it," John said curtly. "Watched it with Rose one night. What's your point?"

"There's a line in there that Charlotte says that I think is appropriate here." Liam stood up. "She tells that boy at her party, 'When a woman says later, she really means not ever.' Have a good day, John. I wish you a speedy recovery, although I'm sure that I'll see you around before I leave for London. Maybe even once Sophie and I move back here, to live with Rose, to be a family with her, like we have been for many years now."

Without waiting for a reply, Liam left the room. Behind him he heard the sound of glass shattering against a wall.

~oOo~

"John," Rose called as she used the key he'd given her to unlock the door to his small flat. "I brought you some lunch." On a side table, she set down a vase containing a bouquet of flowers. Last night, when she and Liam had picked John up at the hospital, John told her that the one that she'd bought him for his room had fallen off the table and broken. Fresh flowers always made her feel better, so she wanted John to have them too.

From the other side his bedroom door she heard him call, "Be out in a mo."

Humming, Rose moved to his kitchen and began opening up the take away containers from their diner. After several days on hospital food, she knew that he would want something hearty and that tasted good.

"No Liam with you this time?" John asked, stepping into the room. He was wearing socks, sweat pants and an oversized jumper, and somehow he still managed to look incredibly sexy. Rose blinked; she'd always found the Doctor to be attractive but he had always worn so many layers. Seeing him like this was, well, stimulating.

"No, no Liam." Shaking her head, she handed John a container. "He's checking out some of the local schools for Sophie."

"Well, isn't that just brilliant." John frowned and opened the lid. Immediately he brightened, switching gears as easily as the Doctor did. "Oh, biscuits and gravy, one of my favourites." It was funny to see him embracing life in America, and the food here was one of his favourite things. Sure, he groused about the things that he couldn't find here that were readily available in Britain, but in those time he usually raided her stash of stuff that her mum sent her and fired up her region free DVD player.

"I'm surprised that Tarzan let you out of his sights," John muttered bitterly as he settled onto the couch.

Confused, Rose grabbed her food and sat in the chair opposite him. "What's that supposed to mean?" Ok, so he was going to be moody today. It's not like she didn't have lots of experience with that aspect of his personality.

"Just that he seems overtly possessive of you." John wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Did something happen between the two of you?" Rose pressed.

Sighing, John looked up at her. "You have to know how I feel about you. I've done a piss poor job of hiding it. Why didn't you tell me about him? Honestly. "

After setting down her food, Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. "I told you from the beginning that it was complicated, and I meant it. There was an issue with Liam's custody with Sophie. His ex-wife is a piece of work. I won't go into detail about it because it's a sore subject for him. The point is they couldn't come out here with me right away.

"We mutually agreed that I'd move here, and if he could sort out the custody thing then they'd move here and we'd be together again. In the meantime, we both sorta agreed that if something happened and either one of us met someone else that the other one would understand. I didn't want him to miss out on something great just because he was waiting for me."

Rose bit her lip. "Time passed, and neither one of us did. I still have feelings for him. It was only a couple of months ago that I fell out of the habit of wearing my engagement ring. It just sort of happened." Absentmindedly, Rose rubbed her thumb against the ring finger of her left hand. "I normally don't wear it when I'm working, and I forgot it one day. It spiralled from there."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

"I was a coward." Rose shrugged. "I like you, John. When you were in the hospital I was so scared that I was going to lose you. You're my friend. I love hanging out with you and laughing with you. It was just easier not to say anything at first and then it just seemed awkward to tell you about Liam. I'm sorry if I hurt you." Standing, Rose wiped her hands on a napkin. "I should really go."

"You don't have to. Rose, please stay," John protested.

Smiling slightly, Rose shook her head. "I'm a little behind this week. Plenty to do at the office." She started walking towards the door.

"Wait, Rose," John called, making her turn around. "Does he make you laugh? The way I do?"

Thinking back to all the reasons that she left the Doctor, Rose fought back a sob. "He doesn't make me cry."


	11. Chapter 11

~oOo~

Liam had stopped by the florist on his way over. When Rose was still in London, he'd stop by her office as often as his schedule would allow it. He always brought her lilies, never roses. She hated them, thought it was cliché unless they happened to be roses from some alien world. Still she always loved it when he brought her flowers.

Today he was feeling much lighter than he had yesterday. Late last night, he and Rose had had a long talk. Not everything was settled yet, but she had seemed pleased that he and Sophie were moving here. Pulling open the door to Pinnacle, Liam stepped into the lobby.

Joan looked up from her computer screen. "Well hello, handsome. What can I do for you?" she purred.

Inwardly he rolled his eyes. After his first wife, he could spot a gold digger a mile away. "I'm here to see Rose Tyler, please."

"I guess you're another one of her boy toys then. Judging by the accent, you're just her type," Joan snipped.

"That's enough, Ms. Redfern," Clara said, stepping out of the hallway. "Not that I don't pray nightly that you will stick your foot far enough down your throat to choke on it. That way I'd have a justifiable reason to fire you, but I don't want to do that at the expense of people I like."

Liam grinned. He liked Clara too. She was feisty, headstrong and in control. They had met when he'd visited in the spring, and Rose talked about her frequently. "Nice to see you again, Clara." He chuckled. "Having a little bit of an issue?"

"Oh, she's nothing I can't handle," she replied, giving Joan a hard stare. "Good to see you too, by the way. What's it been? Six months since you've visited?"

"Sounds about right." He gave her a big grin. "How've you been?"

"Good, you?"

"Can't complain. It's always nice to visit a beautiful place and see a friendly face." That was true. With all the animosity and tension around John it was nice to have someone who was happy to see him.

Joan cleared her throat and looked smug. "Your girlfriend's not here." Liam and Clara both turned to look at the other woman.

"Where did she go?" Liam asked.

Grinning like the cat that got the cream, Joan said, "To have lunch with the other guy she's whoring around with, of course."

Liam clenched his jaw. Of course she was. First chance that she got, of course Rose would go running back to John.

"That's enough, Joan. Just stop trying to stir up trouble," Clara barked at the receptionist.

"What? Unlike our boss, I'm not the one sleeping around," Joan said with a self-satisfied tone. The words had their intended effect. Liam was furious. This sneaking around with other men, even giving the impression of impropriety was not the Rose that he knew.

"Shut up right now!" Clara growled. "Pack your stuff. You're done for the day, maybe permanently, once I talk to Rose. This company has zero tolerance for that kind of harassment."

"Fire me and I'll sue you and this company," Joan snarled.

"Bring it on," Clara retorted. "Now get out before I have you removed."

"Bitch," Joan spat. Grabbing her handbag and with her nose in the air, she strode out of the office.

After a few awkward moments, Liam let the flowers he was still holding fall from his hands. "That was enlightening. I think I'd better go." He turned to go, but Clara's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Wait," she pleaded. "You can't take anything that woman says seriously. Ever since we hired that troll, all she has done is hit on every attractive man that's walked through the door and spread rumors around the office. "

"Doesn't make is less true that Rose is with the Do… with John, does it?" he asked, a hint of sadness in his voice.

Clara sighed and squeezed his arm before letting her hand drop. "John just got out of the hospital and was ordered to take it easy. Rose was just taking him lunch, as a friend. Told me she wouldn't be more than an hour. You know Rose, better than almost anyone. Does anything that witch said sound anything like the Rose that you know?"

Taking in a slow deep breath, he tried to let go of some of his tension. "No, you're right. Rose takes care of people, and she feels an obligation to John." That's what it had to be. He and Rose were together. They'd made that clear last night.

"Glad you're feeling better," Clara said as she reached down and picked up the lilies. "Did you want me to leave these on Rose's desk?"

"Yeah, and tell her I'll see her later. At home," he agreed, and Clara turned to leave. "Hey, do you have time for lunch? I hate to eat alone, and I think you need a break after the show that your receptionist put on. My treat."

Clara smiled. "Just let me grab my coat."

~oOo~

"And then Jack ran in," Rose giggled.

"Naked," Liam interjected with a grin. "Jack always tends to run in naked."

Rose nodded and addressed John and Clara, their lunch guests, again. "So Jack runs in and says 'who's in the mood for a game of twister'. The party dissipated rather quickly after that."

"Well, I'm pretty sure Ianto stayed behind for the shenanigans," Liam chuckled.

"Of course he would," Rose agreed.

Forcing a smile, John picked up his glass of wine. It had been two days since he'd been alone with Rose, since she had made her choice clear. When she came to check on him after that, Liam had come with her. Clara had come by yesterday since the happy couple had gone out to dinner. He hated this distance so much.

Clara shook her head. "And you let this man around your daughter?"

"Jack's good with kids," Rose protested.

Liam nodded. "Yes, he is and thankfully he never ends up naked around them."

Unable to partake in the conversation any longer, John pushed back from the table and wandered out onto the back deck. He took in a deep lungful of cold air. The chill burned his chest and it felt like tiny needles piercing in his skin, but it was still preferable to sitting inside and watching Liam drape his arm over Rose's shoulder. Watching him hold her close, drop kisses on her temple and call her sweetheart. All of those little acts that Rose accepted so easily from that man twisted the knife in John's gut.

Why had he agreed to come today?

Well, the answer to that was easy. Rose had asked him. He'd known it would be a good idea but he couldn't say no to her. Even if it was hard to be here with her and her _fiancé,_ it was still infinitely better than not having her around at all. He was, however, grateful that Clara had been invited as a buffer. Hopefully, either it would get easier to deal with Rose and Liam together, or Liam would go back to London soon. Although the trip to London wouldn't be permanent, but maybe it would last long enough for him to finish his novel.

Finishing his novel, that's what he'd come here to do. Finish it and go back to traveling. This was the first time since his first week here that he'd thought about leaving. He was almost halfway done with the first draft. In a few months it would be time for him to go. Part of him had thought, well when he thought Rose was available, that maybe it was time to stop running, to put down roots. Now…

The back door opened. "It's freezing out here," Rose said softly, and he turned to face her. "You forgot your jacket. I wouldn't want you getting hypothermia again."

"Thank you." When he reached out for the coat she was holding out to him, his cold fingers brushed against the warmth of hers and that familiar electric tingle spread through him. How could she not feel that? Or if she did, how could she choose someone else?

"How are you feeling?" Rose asked. "Any residual pain?"

If it were anyone else asking he'd be tempted to snap at them, but Rose said the words with such sincerity that even if he wanted to be mad at her, he couldn't. "Few aches, and it still itches where the doctors stitched me up, but for almost dying less than a week ago…" He sucked in a breath. "Well, I think I'm doing quite well."

"Don't talk like that," Rose murmured.

"Like what?"

"Like you almost dying was no big deal." Her hands trembled slightly. "I was so scared when I found you lying on the path. You were so cold. I thought… We were so far from the road. I thought you weren't going to make it."

He tugged her to him. "Come here, Rose." Her arms snaked around his waist, and he rested his cheek on the top of her head. "I'm fine, perfectly perfect in every way." He felt the wetness of her tears through her shirt. "I'm so sorry I make you cry."

From inside Liam watched as the two hugged, and his entire body stiffened. It was time for him to make another move, one that John couldn't ignore. In that instant, Liam decided that tomorrow night was perfect for a grand gesture, one that he hoped that John Smith witnessed.

~oOo~

The next night, Clara plunked down on a stool next to John. "Barkeep," she called with a cheeky grin, knowing that the bartender, Roger, hated when she called him that. "I'll have a whiskey sour and another one of whatever my friend is having." With a nod, Roger turned to make their drinks.

"You didn't have to do that," John mumbled as he swiveled away from the worn bar. Immediately, his eyes narrowed in on a high table in the back corner where a petite blonde woman sat with a tall dark haired man. "But thank you."

With a loud thunk, Roger set down two glasses on the bar. "Make sure this one doesn't cause any trouble, Clara."

She gave the curmudgeonly older man a two finger salute. "I shall do my best." Clara sniffed at her drink for a moment before following John's gaze to Rose and Liam's table. She liked her boss very much and knew more about her than anybody else in town, except for Liam. Not that anyone would ever get a secret out of her. Her eyes zoned in on the man at the table. There certainly was something to be said about Liam Donnelly. "It's easy to see what she likes about him," she muttered softly to herself.

John turned to her and asked indignantly, "What did you say?"

Shrugging, Clara took a big swing of her drink. "What? I mean just look at him; he's a bit fit. Broad shoulders, beautiful eyes, his jaw could cut glass, and those hands: big, strong and masculine." She shivered. "And don't even get me started on those luscious locks of his. I just want to run my fingers through them."

Instinctively, John ran a hand through his own locks. "I have nice hair, really great hair even." He paused. "Hold on. _A bit fit,_ that's not really American slang now, is it? Where did you say you were from again?"

"Georgia," Clara replied with a roll of her eyes. John managed to catch the slightest hint of blush creep across her cheeks. "And I'm a big fan of Harry Potter and BBC America, thank you very much, and maybe I've just been spending too much time around my Brit of a boss." With a shrug she took another drink. "I just think that Liam is hot, alright?"

John eyed her carefully before sucking down half of his banana daiquiri. "How would Rose feel if she heard you talking that way about her _fiancé?"_ There was a condescending sneer in the way he said the word fiancé. Not that it was any big secret to anyone in this town how John Smith felt about Rose Tyler and her lover.

In one quick gulp she finished her drink. "It's not like she and I don't talk about guys like this when we're at lunch or whatever." Her phone began to vibrate in her jeans pocket, and she fished it out and quickly checked the caller ID. _Harkness._ Damn it. "You should hear the things she says about you and your cute butt. No offense but it's a little skinny for my tastes, but to each their own. Sorry, I gotta take this." Without waiting for John's reply, she walked outside and answered her phone.

"This had better be important, Jack," Clara muttered, her accent slipping slightly.

…

From across the room Rose could feel John's eyes boring into her. Why did he have to show up here tonight? It's not like they hadn't seen each other today and every day since he'd come back from hospital. Well, if she was honest, there had hardly been a day that they hadn't seen each other since he arrived. Still tonight she needed to focus on the man sitting next to her.

"I was thinking," Liam said, taking her hand in his and brushing her knuckles against his lips. "Maybe this spring we could go on holiday, Morocco or Thailand. Two weeks with just our rucksacks and a healthy dose of wanderlust."

She smiled slightly and leaned her head towards him. "That sounds marvelous. Why not wait until summer and we can take Sophie? It'll be fun, yeah?"

"Well, I was sort of hoping that it would be more of a honeymoon. A March wedding would be nice, wouldn't it?"

Her hand started trembling in his. "What? That's only four months away. That's so soon, too soon." In her chest she could feel her heart beating rapidly. What was happening to her? This was what she wanted, wasn't it?

"Rose, look, I know that we decided when you came here that we wouldn't hold each other to the engagement, and I know some things are different now. However, the one thing that I know that hasn't changed is how I feel about you." Keeping ahold of her hand, Liam scooted out of his chair and kneeled before her on the ground. Pulling an all too familiar ring box out of his pocket, he asked, "Will you marry me?"

The world around her started to spin, and there was a distinct blackness creeping into the periphery of her vision. Her stomach churned, and she felt like she was going to vomit. Last time he'd asked she hadn't had the slightest bit of hesitation. This time she wanted to run.

So she did.

Violently pushing out of her chair, she grabbed her coat and headed outside, only barely managing to side step John as he tried to catch her. Once outside she took in a giant lungful of air. What was wrong with her? She had been sincere when she had told Liam she wanted him and Sophie here. A hand wrapped around her shoulder and she turned, burying her face in the chest of a man she presumed was Liam. She was wrong.

"Shh, I've got you," John whispered, enveloping her tightly in his arms. "What did he say to you? I swear, if he said anything to hurt you I'll…"

"Oi, get your bleeding hands off her," Liam yelled as he ran up to the pair. "Rose, sweetheart, let's go home and talk. I'm sorry if I pushed you too hard." He reached over and tried to touch her but John shifted to move himself between Rose and Liam.

"I think you've done enough damage for tonight," John snapped. "Why don't you just leave her alone?"

Liam made another grab at Rose's arm. "Stay out of this. Despite what you think, you are not in a relationship with Rose. I'm pretty sure she's made that clear herself. She's spoken for and we don't need you sticking your big fat nose in our business."

Somehow Rose managed to extricate herself from John's arms. "Calm down, both of you." Neither man paid any attention to her.

"It's my business if I say it's my business. I warned you, Donnelly," John raged. "I warned you to never hurt her and look at her. She's out here in the snow, in tears. All week you've been pushing her into something she obviously doesn't want to do. So back the hell off."

Liam mouth twisted into a snarl. "Don't act like you know anything about her or her life with me. You're not the man that's been there for her for all these years, loving her, supporting her, putting her needs above your own. No, you're the kind of guy who lets her pick up after you while you chase anything in a skirt."

"How dare you," John yelled and balled his fist. Before he could strike, Rose screamed at him to stop and Clara appeared out of nowhere, coming between the two men. She pushed John and he stepped back but didn't lose any of the fight that was in his eyes. "You don't know anything about me." John ignored Clara and Rose's attempts to stop the fight, and he stepped towards Liam again.

Turning to Liam, Rose begged him to stop. He gently moved her aside instead. "I know more about you than you do, and I know a damn sight more about Rose than you ever knew. I treat her like my equal, not some pet to be tossed aside when I'm done with her. Not like you'll do to her, just like you do to everyone else."

John roughly pushed Clara out of the way just before his fist collided with Liam's mouth. With a growl, Liam dropped the ring box that he had been holding and retaliated. His large fist connected with John's eye socket.

"Please stop it," Rose cried, hating seeing the two men come to blows. Scooping up the ring box before the heel of one of the men's boots trampled it, Clara shoved the box containing the engagement ring into Rose's hand and pulled her further away. Liam pushed John to the ground and landed a solid punch in John's stomach before John twisted and ended up on top of Liam.

Rose watched for a moment as the wiry man who had turned himself human pummeled the man whom she had been engaged to before she had to turn away. How could they? She felt herself retching. Her dinner made a reappearance just as blue lights appeared at the end of the street.

"Let's get you out of here," Clara said, rubbing circles on Rose's back. "You can sort out those morons' legal troubles in the morning. You don't need to see them in handcuffs. At least not when you don't get to enjoy it." A small laugh escaped Rose's mouth as Clara led her back to her SUV. They did their best to ignore the harsh words the officer was yelling at the two men who engaged in the brawl. There were a great many things Rose needed to think about before she saw either one of them again.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **A huge thanks to LastIncurableRomantic for all her help betaing and for being an amazing friend!**

_**~oOo~** _

The door to the jail cell slammed shut, leaving the two men in silence except for the sound of water dripping from a sink. The ten by ten cell was… cosy. Thankfully John and Liam were the only ones in it. Each sat on a steel bench on opposite sides of the room.

Liam leaned forward, resting his head in his hands. John held the ice pack to his rapidly swelling eye and pointedly looked anywhere but at the man in the cell with him. The last hour had been embarrassing for the both of them. Rose had taken off soon after the police had shown up. At least she hadn't seen the pair of them handcuffed and thrown in the back of a black and white. Mercifully she had also missed the pair of them being fingerprinted, booked and having their mug shots taken.

Neither man said anything for well over an hour. It was Liam who dared to break the silence first. "How's the eye? Sorry about that, by the way."

John chuckled dryly. "The eye will heal. Sorry about your lip." His tongue flicked out and licked the crusted blood off his own swollen lip. "I shouldn't have started that fight."

"It's understandable, really," Liam replied. "Rose is a wonderful woman, and it's easy to be jealous when someone else has her attention." Leaning back, he rested his head against the wall. "And it's hard to think about her with anyone other than yourself."

"Yeah," John agreed softly. "Not her fault I acted like a complete and total twat, though."

A small laugh escaped Liam's mouth. "Course it's not her fault. Rose fixes people. It's what she's best at. It's what she did for me." A heavy silence filled the air for a moment. "When I met Rose I was angry at everyone. I was doing criminal law, and I was cutthroat. I didn't care if a criminal walked free because a victory in courtroom was the only thing that made me feel anything other than anger." He leaned forward again. "Seven years ago, my wife Gemma—well, now she's my ex-wife, but we were married at the time—took off with our three year old.

"One morning I left for work and came home to find her and Sophie gone, their things missing and the joint bank account wiped out. It took me months and a lot of favours to find out where they were. Even when I did, there was nothing I could legally do to get my daughter back. Me, a high power barrister, one of the best in London and I was helpless."

"I'm sorry," John said sincerely. "I can't even imagine what that would be like."

"It was hell, four years of hell not always knowing where my daughter was all the time or if she was safe. They bounced around a lot, Paris, Istanbul, Hong Kong, so it was hard to track them down. Two years in I'd all but given up hope. I was a shark in the courtroom and a drunk at home. Then my godmother introduced me to Rose. I don't think that she expected us to fall for one another, and we didn't at first. For the first few months we were friends, just friends. She helped me to see that I had a reason to keep fighting. My daughter."

Liam stood and walked the short distance to the front of the cell. "Rose helped me to focus on legal issues, contacting Gemma and even talked that crazy woman into letting me come and visit for a short time when t they were in Cairo. I cried when I held Sophie for the first time in three years. It was as if my heart was ripped out when I had to leave her behind and head back to the UK. Rose held my hand the entire time. When I got back, I kicked everything into high gear. Finished the divorce proceedings in Gemma's absence and got the courts to award me full custody all in a few weeks. Then I waited. In the meantime, I changed careers. Became a solicitor and began to take on custody cases. I did a lot of pro bono work and took on cases no one else would touch; I just wanted to make sure that everyone got a fair shake.

"A few months after the visit, Gemma ran out of cash and she came back to England with Sophie. The woman tried to blackmail me for funds. When I wouldn't give her anything, she called the police saying that I was threatening to kidnap my daughter. I showed them the court order, and I got Sophie back."

John grinned. "That's great."

"It was," Liam replied, nodding. "But it wasn't the end of the fight. I may have had my daughter at home every night, but Gemma fought for and got supervised visitation. At first I figured the visits were supervised, and I didn't want to cut my ex-wife out of Sophie's life so I let them happen. After a few weeks, Sophie started acting scared of her mother and throwing tantrums before the visits. I got worried and sent her to counsellor. Only later did I learn about all the things that Gemma did to her: locking her in closets when she cried, not feeding her if she misbehaved. Stuff that still makes me sick to my stomach to think about. We got the visitations stopped, but they wouldn't completely revoke Gemma's rights." Liam sniffed and scrubbed a hand down his face before continuing.

"During all that time Rose and I grew closer, started dating exclusively. Two years ago I asked Rose to marry me. She agreed readily but didn't seem to be in a rush to set a date. Then she got the job offer here, wanted all three of us to move here. Give us a fresh start. But there were still the custody issues to contend with. Rose wanted to stay, but I didn't want to hold her back. We fought about for almost a month before she agreed to move here. So we separated temporarily, or so I thought."

Liam sighed. "Two weeks ago, I finally convinced the courts to terminate Gemma's rights. It didn't hurt that I offered a financial incentive to her if she stopped fighting it. Amazing how little cash it took to convince her in the end. Papers signed, I left Sophie with Rose's mum and came out here to surprise her." Liam came back and sat down on the bench. "And I found out things had changed."

"Are you going to put that on me?" John asked, his tone slightly defensive. "Because I won't apologize for falling in love with her."

Liam gave him a sad smile. "I wish it was as easy as you being here, Johnny boy. However, I think Rose and I have been over for a while, just neither one of us wanted to admit it. How can you just give up on the kind of love that Rose gives?"

This time the silence between them was a comfortable one. Liam's question didn't need an answer and John didn't want to try and make him feel better about no longer being with the woman that he was arse over teakettle for.

The next time Liam spoke, he looked sad but resolved. "This won't make much sense now, John, but I need you to remember it. When you truly know who you are, you have to tell her. Tell her every day how you feel about her, show her how you feel because if you don't you'll lose her and once again the only person to blame will be yourself. Rose Tyler only deserves the best. So promise me right now that you will never let her down."

To John, it seemed a strange thing for the (possible) ex to be asking of the potential new boyfriend, but there was something in his eyes when he said it that made John readily agree. "I will do everything in my power to make sure that she is only treated with the respect and love that she deserves."

"Good. That's good," Liam replied, sounding sad and relieved. He turned his body away from John and leaned his head against the wall. Neither man spoke again for hours.

~oOo~

Rose's hands were shaking as she opened the front door to her house. How could they? She was not some prize that was awarded to the winner of their idiotic little fist fight. Having two grown men fight over you was not enjoyable or romantic, no matter how it was portrayed in films. Right now for all she cared they could stew in jail for the night. Heck, a small town, 21st century, American holding cell was preferable to many of the places the Doctor had gotten her thrown into in the past.

Once inside the house she headed across the kitchen to the stairway to the basement. She needed something familiar and welcoming. The TARDIS was alive, and she was Rose's friend. Right now Rose wanted to curl up in the jump seat and let the hum of the ship soothe her, help her to clear her head. Not that she couldn't hear the TARDIS any time she was inside her house, but the connection was strongest there.

The key warmed slightly against her skin as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She knew exactly when she had taken to wearing the key around her neck again. When he was in hospital, she had kept the fob watch in her pocket at all times. It had been too close a call, and she didn't want to chance not having the watch close at hand if things took a sudden wrong turn. It had to have been after his release that she switched the watch for the key. She knew it sounded daft but somehow having a piece of her old life with her made her feel safe.

Stepping over the threshold and into the dimly lit console room, Rose felt the loving, familiar hum of the ship in her mind. She let her fingers trail over the coral strut nearest the door. "What am I supposed to do?" A tear slipped down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away. She felt so angry at the two men who were probably being thrown together in some jail cell. Yet she was still so conflicted, so conflicted. Sinking down onto the jump seat, Rose cradled her head in her hands. "Where do I go from here?"

The view screen flickered into life and the Doctor's voice filled the room. _"Rose, if the TARDIS brought me to you…"_ Her head shot up. This was the video that the TARDIS had cut off on the night that she materialized here. That night she had been upset that she hadn't been able to see what message the Doctor had for her but right now she had no desire to her it.

"Turn it off," Rose yelled at the time rotor.

 _"I told her not to bother you with this._ " The volume of the Doctor's voice increased. Apparently the magnificent time and space ship thought that this was something that she needed to here.

Grumbling, Rose sat back down on the seat not wanting to look at the screen.

 _"I asked the TARDIS not to bring me to you. Not because I don't trust you, because nothing could be further from the truth. Above anyone else, Rose Tyler, I trust you."_ He sighed, and Rose turned to face the screen. _"I should have put more faith in you before I lost you. I should have pulled you closer instead of pushing you away, but I was scared. And not that it probably means much to you now, but nothing happened with Reinette. From the moment that I trapped myself there, I could think of nothing more than getting back to you."_

The Doctor broke eye contact with the camera and ran his fingers through his hair. _"I wanted to come back for you. Give you a few days away from me and then beg you to come back. Unfortunately, I jumped a tad bit too far in the future. I meant to give you a week, and I ended up several years further into your future."_

"You always were an awful driver, Doctor," Rose whispered, hugging her knees to her chest.

He turned back to the face the screen. " _I'd missed my shot. You had moved on with your life, and I was so proud of you."_ His voice broke over the words, and he beamed. _"You didn't need me anymore, and I couldn't blame you. You were right to leave. I never did deserve you. You took a broken old man and showed him how to find joy and love again. I just wish I hadn't been so thick as to lose you in the first place. I've been keeping tabs on you, and I know about the engagement and the separation that you have taken while you focus on your career. I have been so tempted to approach you, but I know that I still don't deserve you. And why would you still want me after all this time?_

" _Rose, I hope you never have to hear this because I want you to be living that fantastic life that you promised me that you would be living without me. However, if for some reason the TARDIS ignored my wishes and brought John Smith to you, then I'm sorry. There will probably be enough residual memory left in him to feel drawn to you. Especially since you have never been far from my thoughts since the moment I met you. Ask Martha; I'm sure she'll tell you."_

Snorting, Rose shook her head. Oh, she had gotten an earful and a cold shoulder from Martha Jones when they had first met. Apparently, the Doctor hadn't been able to stop lamenting over Rose and made Martha feel inferior. Once Martha had gotten Rose's side of the story they had become good friends.

_"The point is, if John Smith feels even a fraction of my affection for you, without my self-imposed rules he may attempt to act on his feelings. I know that after what has happened between you and me, that you will probably not be inclined to return my, his, feelings. I won't blame you. I know it will be a terrible inconvenience for you but in three months, feel free to open the watch and send me away._

_"If for some unknown reason, you do return his affections, you have a choice. And I would completely understand if you choose not to open the watch at all." Automatically, Rose opened her mouth to protest, but the recording kept going. "No, no, no hear me out. John Smith is not me. He will look like me and his voice may sound like mine, but he won't be me. If you can look past all of that and still feel something for him despite how you must feel about me... Rose Tyler, all I want is for you to be happy even if that can never be with me. The choice is yours. You always seem to make the best ones in the end."_

The playback ended, and Rose stared dumbfounded at the screen. How could the Doctor have been so wrong about all of this? She had long ago forgiven the Doctor for his transgression and she wouldn't have missed one moment that they had together. And John Smith was such a huge part of who the Doctor was. True, he had fewer inhibitions and rules to hold him back from acting on his love for her. Of course, she knew that John loved her.

Standing, Rose once again trailed a hand across the console. "Thank you for showing me the video, love. I have some thinking to do." She pressed two fingers to her lips and then touched then to a coral strut before heading back upstairs.

How could the Doctor ever think that she wouldn't open the watch? That she would put her feelings ahead of the needs of the Universe? She climbed the stairs to the second floor and pushed open the door to her bedroom. Making quick work of opening the safe, Rose pulled out the fob watch and took the ring box containing her engagement ring out of her pocket. Her fingers trembled as she removed the ring from the box.

Sinking to her knees in front of the window, she clutched each object in a different hand. Each one represented one of the greatest men that she had been lucky enough to know. This wasn't fair, feeling like she had to choose between them. Most people were lucky if they found even one man as great as either Liam or the Doctor, and here she had to give one up.

Opening her left hand, she gazed at the beautiful ring that symbolized Liam's love and devotion to her. Was that promise enough? In ten years when he was visibly older and she potentially wasn't, how would he feel then? He said that it didn't matter to him, yet she wasn't sure. Rose knew how she would feel in that situation and it wouldn't matter to her. However, even if Liam could deal with the changes to her physiology, was he still what she wanted?

She and Liam had a history, a loving, respectful, honest relationship that had lasted nearly five years. She loved him and Sophie so very much. They had been a family. He taught her to love again, and she helped him to get his daughter back and to see the good in people again. But it had been over with him for a while now. Neither had wanted to admit it. Liam was the kind of man that she had dreamed of being with when she was a child. He was the textbook definition of what she wanted in a partner, but somehow things still weren't working out.

Gently she set the ring back in the box and closed it. Now clasping the fob watch in both hands she thought back to her time with her first Doctor, the end of the world and chips, dancing, Woman Wept, him kissing her when she was Bad Wolf, his regeneration. Then with her second, happier Doctor. They had had so much fun together before things had gone so utterly wrong.

For a moment she let her mind wander to what could have been had she stayed after France. The TARDIS's song resonated in her head and she was hit with an onslaught of memories: falling to a parallel Earth with Mickey and the Doctor, saving her parallel-dad but watching her parallel-mum die, Mickey staying behind. Losing her face in the 1950's, losing the TARDIS and battling the devil, the 2012 Olympics, and then a bleak white wall, and through it all there was an enduring, overpowering love.

Rose gasped and dropped the watch.

What the hell was that? Did she just see an alternative timeline? How would that even be possible? From two floors beneath her she felt the TARDIS's song thrum loudly. Ah, that would explain things. She was meddling again.

Still though, she could feel the love between her and the Doctor in that timeline that never happened. There had been laughter, tears and saving the world, the Universe even, and all of it would have been wonderful. Even if it would have been fleeting, ephemeral, it would have been worth every moment of heartache that came with it.

And now she knew what she had to do.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in publishing. I promise to spend the next week editing and polishing as much of the next nine chapters as I can.

**~oOo~**

A loud metallic clang echoed around the small cell, and both Liam and John bolted upright. "Up and at 'em, boys," a police officer called, sticking a key in the lock of the jail cell. "It seems like the two of you have a few friends in high places, and everything's been taken care of. The DA has decided to drop all charges against you, Mr Donnelly, since you weren't the aggressor."

Stepping aside, the officer let Liam out of the cell. "As for you, Mr Smith, if that is in fact your real name, as long as Mr Donnelly declines to press charges, you will only be issued a citation for disturbing the peace." Blocking the door, the officer fixed John with a hard glare. "I'm keeping an eye on you. One toe out of line, _John Smith,_ and I'll know it."

John nodded his head slightly; it wasn't as if he wanted to make a habit out of fighting anyone. "Got it. Can I go now?"

Silently the guard, Officer Roberts according to his badge, stepped out of the way. "If you'll come with me, you can collect your personal effects and your ride will take you home."

After the two former detainees had collected their personal belongings, they were directed towards the lobby. "On a scale of one to ten," Liam murmured, "just how furious do you think Rose is?"

"No less than a fifteen," John shot back with a dry chuckle. He would much rather face Officer 'I've got my eye on you' or the seduction attempts of that Redfern girl than face a justifiably angry Rose Tyler. "If we make it out of this police station alive, it will only be because she doesn't want to risk the jail time herself."

Liam sniggered. "It's not like she'd have to do the dirty work herself though. Never underestimate the power of Rose's friends and family. I wholly expect a full dressing down from Jackie and Sarah Jane when I make it back to London." He shuddered but smiled.

It was a shame, John thought, that they had met under these circumstances. If things had been different, he would have like to believe that they could have been friends. Well, as long as the man didn't have aspirations on Rose Tyler, yes, they could have been amiable associates at the very least.

Stepping into the lobby, it was hard to miss Rose Tyler. She was standing in jeans and a purple jumper with her arms crossed over her chest. Her body language screamed that she was not to be messed with, and her eyes shot daggers at the two men. Fair enough, they deserved that.

Both men cautiously approached her. However before they could reach her, Rose turned on her heel and stalked outside. Her black SUV was parked just outside of the station. Still not bothering to turn around, she slipped into the driver's side seat. Liam motioned to John to take the front. Fearing for his safety, John declined and both men climbed into the backseat. Tension filled the air of the vehicle as Rose drove the few blocks to John's flat.

Rose pulled up to the kerb and unlocked the doors, not shutting off the engine. "I'll call you in a couple of days, John," she said, still keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead of her.

"I'm sorry, Rose," John started to say but Rose cut him off.

"I will call you in a few days, John. Now please, I need time."

John nodded to Liam and opened the car door. "Talk to you soon then, Rose." He shut the door without waiting for her response. A moment later Rose and Liam drove off. Her house was close enough that he could almost see her turn into the driveway. Somehow he knew that it was exactly six minutes thirty eight seconds; he stood there staring in the direction they had gone.

Finally he turned and walked up the stairs to his temporary home. Inside he pulled out both his laptop and his journal. Idly he flipped to a page where he'd been working through a recurring dream. He ran his fingers over the messy scrawl.

_That bloody fireplace. I HATE it. Crying. Tears. Robots? Versailles? Makes no sense... Regret. Mistakes. I live the same mistake over and over. The Doctor in the blue box again. And monsters. Hideous. Beautiful. Masks? Roses roses roses. Pink yellow roses._

_Birthdays and anniversaries. But she never says thank you. I left her. Why would I leave her? A horse and a window. No, that's wrong. It's a mirror. Tick tock tick tock. The clocks have stopped. More tears. So so sorry... Always so sorry..._

_Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. She has to know..._

The Doctor had hurt his Rose, and it had driven her away. Somehow the man who travelled the stars was unable to find a way to win her back. Thankfully, John was not the Doctor, and he would find a way to make things right with Rose. She hadn't cut him off completely, instead had just asked for a few days apart. Plenty of time for him to figure out a way back into her good graces. He wouldn't lose her; he couldn't let that happen.

In the meantime he would do what he came here to do in the first place: write. Opening his laptop, he opened his file and resumed work on his book, the story of a war revenged solider who had lost everyone and everything he cared about until he met a young woman who made him see that life was worth living once again.

~oOo~

Leaning against the door frame, Rose watched as Liam packed away the last of his belongings. There was a flight from Montrose to Denver leaving in three hours, and he wanted to be on it. Too much time away from Sophie, he'd said. More like not enough distance between him and Rose. Not that she could blame him one bit for wanting to get away as soon as possible. Even though this breakup really wasn't anyone's fault, it was still painful.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

Liam zipped up his bag and looked up at her. "Yeah, me too." Sticking his hands in his back pockets, he walked over to her. "I wish this didn't have to end, but all good things… you know."

"I do," she replied, holding back from laying a comforting hand on his arm. She didn't want to send mixed signals. "I wish things had worked out differently. Maybe if I hadn't come here, taken this job, then we'd still be us."

Shaking his head, Liam reached out and cupped her cheek. "None of that. We decided together that Pinnacle was the best place for you, and we both knew that we could grow apart in that time. It wasn't what we wanted to happen, but hey, it's not like you have a time machine in your basement that we could use to go back and change things." Both of them grinned, and Rose gave a small laugh.

"Even if I knew who to fly her properly, it's not like we can go back and mess with our own timelines. Not without risking the reapers." Reaching up, she wrapped her small hand around his larger one on her cheek. "Nothing is worth that, trust me." She pulled their hands down and held them for a moment before letting go. "What are you going to tell Sophie?"

"I guess that depends on if you want to cut out of her life completely." Liam took in a deep breath and held it while he waited for her to respond.

"Don't be daft, Li. I'd love to still be a part of her life, to be there for her if she needs me." Rose wiped a tear from her eye, and he slowly exhaled. "It's just you're her dad, and I don't want to confuse her. She's been through so much already. You both have."

Liam nodded and looked away. "That makes things a little easier, I guess. I'll tell her that you still love her and care about her, that you'll still be there for her, just not the way that we had originally expected that you would be." Walking back over to the bed, he sat down on the edge of it. "Just, if you promise her something you can't go back on your word. I know that you wouldn't normally break a promise to her, not if you could help it. But you'll be travelling with the Doctor now…"

"I still haven't decided that yet," Rose protested.

"Sweetheart, we both know that you will and that you probably should." He chuckled dryly. "I've heard about the time travelling alien who can change his face since I was a little boy. When she used to watch me when Mum and Dad would go out, Sarah Jane used to tuck me into bed and tell me about the Doctor. I used to imagine what it would be like to go too."

Standing, Liam stood up and began to pace. "Those were good dreams for me to have when I was a kid, but it's not where my life has taken me, it's not where I need to be." He stopped and looked at her. "That life though, it's where you need to be. You were always meant to be greater. Rose Tyler, Universal traveller, saviour to many and meant for so much more than the life I could have given you. I was just lucky that I got to have the time with you that I did."

"I wouldn't have missed it, you know, my time with you." Tears were flowing down her face. "I wouldn't change one second I had with you, Liam Donnelly. Thank you for loving me, for supporting me and for letting me be me. I love you. I hope... I hope we can still be friends."

"Come 'ere, you," Liam muttered as he enfolded her in a hug. "I will always love you, and I doubt that I'd ever want to stop being your friend." His arms tightened, and he rested his chin on the top of her head. "I'll talk to Mickey; we'll form a club. Jack will, of course, lie and tell everyone that the two of you had a thing just so he can join in, and we'll feel bad for him because he doesn't have the pleasure of being your ex-boyfriend. So we'll have to let him plan the parties. There may be a gentlemen's club or two involved; don't tell Martha. "

Rose giggled. "You're an idiot, but I'll miss you all the same."

"Of course I am, and of course you will." He pressed a quick kiss into her hair and let her go. "We better get going to the airport if I'm going to make my plane. Especially if I'm going to make you stop at one of those gaudy little tourist traps on the way there and spend your hard earned money on useless gifts for Sophie, your mum and everyone else back home. It might help ease things over with them when I tell them how you broke my heart and left me for an alien who's hiding as a human."

She knew he was joking to lighten the mood, but there was a truth behind those words that stung just a little. "Come on then. Maybe I'll buy you something pretty too, to take away the pain of me dumping you. Although, I'm sure you'll find someone brilliant in no time flat. Someone you deserve."

"I'll take some time to lick my wounds, but I'm sure there's someone out there. Hey, maybe you can find someone from the future or whatever and bring her back here to live with me in the 'olden days'. That sounds like a brilliant plan."

Rose shook her head as they walked downstairs side by side. "Sure it does. Don't worry, I'll make sure she's pretty and clever and not opposed to the squalor that is the early 21st century. I mean, what good is a time machine if you can't use it to form love connections?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to my lovely beta LastIncurableRomantic!

**~oOo~**

The soldering iron slipped, and Rose burned her finger. Sucking on the injured digit, she surveyed the pile of electronics scattered on the table. After dropping Liam off at the airport three days ago, she had practically been living in her lab. It had been a good thing in many ways. Several of Pinnacle's biggest projects were now well ahead of schedule, including her own translator.

Locking herself here had also been her way of hiding from John Smith. She had told him that she needed time and would call him when she was ready, and in an unexpected turn of events, he'd respected her wishes. Only now she was missing him something fierce. Her mobile was back in her office. It would only take a minute to pop in there and grab it. Maybe they could have dinner tonight, watch a movie at her place, something.

She was halfway out of her chair when there was a knock at the door. Relief filled her at what was hopefully a long delay. It wasn't the first time that Roe had wanted to call John and had chickened out at the last minute. There was no other way to put it; she was a coward.

Clara stuck her head inside. "Sorry to bother you, boss."

"No, it's fine. Come in," Rose replied lightly. Over the past few days Clara had been a life saver, always making sure that Rose had tea or ate. She had also fielded phone calls from her mum, Sarah Jane and Martha. Her friends and family meant well, but Rose just didn't want to talk to them about the breakup right now.

Clara stepped all the way into the room. "I was just wondering how much longer you were going to sulk in here. Do I need to call a contractor and have them add in a bedroom?"

Turning her back to her friend, Rose perched on a table. "I know I've been pretty bad."

"You can say that again," Clara snorted. Walking across the room, she sat down next to her boss. "It's not going to get any easier, you know. By locking yourself in here, nothing gets solved."

Slowly, Rose nodded. "I know. It's just, there's a history there, with John. I can't even explain it. And things with Liam just ended. Moving on so quickly…" She frowned. "I know what I want. The other day I was so sure, but there is this little niggling doubt. I'm just not sure that he'll want me. Not in a few months, when it's time for him to leave again."

"There is one thing I have learned and it's that sitting around thinking about how other people are going to react solves nothing." Clara stood and dragged Rose to her feet. "You need to talk to John, the sooner the better. Come on, I'm taking you home and you're not allowed back here until you have a conversation with him."

"Thanks, Clara, for everything you've done in the last week," Rose said, letting Clara lead her out of the lab.

The brunette bumped her friend's shoulder. "Anytime."

~oOo~

It had been four days since he'd been released from jail. Four days since he'd seen or heard from Rose Tyler. At least John hadn't heard from her until about twenty minutes ago when he'd gotten a text message from her.

_Can you come over? I'm round back, on the deck. Dress warmly._

Immediately, he replied that he would be right over. Quickly he threw on a pair of jeans, his trainers, and a jumper and grabbed his thick coat, gloves and toboggan. He had no desire to end up back in the hospital with hypothermia again. Now, he was exactly where he wanted to be, near Rose Tyler.

"You coming up or are you just going to stand over there all night?" she called from a deck chair. "I've got hot chocolate spiked with Bailey's."

"Sorry, I was just… thinking," John replied, walking over carefully onto the deck. The only light was coming from a half full moon. Gently he lay down in the chair next to her.

Rose shifted so that she was facing him. "Penny for them?"

"Just glad that you wanted to see me again. After what happened the other night, I didn't know if you would want to. You don't deserve to be treated like that. I'm sorry I acted like a, like a stupid ape." He sank deeper into the plush cushion.

Rose giggled, sounding like she'd already had a few spiked drinks herself. "Well, those primitive urges can be a difficult thing to deal with. We mere apes sometimes cannot control ourselves, John." Rose sniggered. He wasn't sure what she'd found so funny, but it was good to hear her laughter again. Soon enough he was laughing right alongside of her.

After a minute and a few mugs of the heavy on the Baileys hot chocolate, John moved his chair right next to hers. He hoped it wasn't too forward of a move, or too soon. It wasn't. Rose wrapped her small hand around his and squeezed. Her skin was cold from being exposed to the night air and he tucked both of their hands away in his jacket pocket to keep them warm. They sat there in compatible silence for a while. John simply enjoyed the fact that they were together.

"I ended things with Liam," she said softly, her eyes fixed on the stars above them. "For good this time, not the ambiguous way we left things when I moved here. He needs to find someone who he deserves, someone who deserves him. Someone better than me."

He squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back. More than anything, he wanted to tell her that there was no one better than her. That Liam was the one who didn't deserve her and that any man in the Universe would be lucky to have her, but just this once, he held back. This wasn't about how he felt about her. "And are you okay with that?"

This time she looked over at him. "Yeah, I think I am. Liam and I… We were nice, comfortable, fun, but we weren't meant to be."

"You deserve to be happy, Rose. We all do," John said in earnest. She clasped his hand tightly for a few seconds before turning back to look up at the sky.

"So, what have you been up to the last few days?" asked Rose, trying to change the subject. "Any progress on your book?"

Grinning, he told her that he had, in fact, made substantial progress on his book. However, he wasn't ready to share it quite yet. She would be the first to read it, he assured her. Only if she wanted to, of course.

She assured him that she would be ecstatic to read his book. They spent the next hour or so talking about everything and nothing. When the hot chocolate ran out, Rose went inside and grabbed a bottle of tequila and a blanket. Making him budge up, she settled into his chair and snuggled with him in the warmth of the scratchy wool covering. The bottle was passed between them until John was feeling more than a little buzzed.

"Do you ever think about what it would be like to travel there? To the stars." Rose's voice was slurred slightly. "Not like an astronaut but to visit all of those other worlds."

John felt his heart swell. "I do. Sometimes I have these mad dreams. I'm an adventurer, a traveller. Almost like one of those men in sci-fi movies. I'm an alien called the Doctor." Next to him, he felt Rose tense. "Are you alright?"

"Course I am. Tell me more. Please?" She relaxed and snuggled closer. "Do you travel alone? In your dreams."

"Occasionally, but I also travel with friends. Companions, I call them." His fingers traced lightly down the arms of her jacket. "Lately, I've been dreaming that you travel with me, and we go to the most extraordinary places." He purposely didn't tell her about his nightmares of the Doctor losing his Rose. It must have been his subconscious way of working through the whole Liam situation and he would simply ignore the fact that those dreams started before the other man's arrival. "I remember the Doctor feeling so lonely and then he met his Rose and they saved each other."

"Mmm," Rose replied, sounding a little distracting. "Better with two."

"Exactly, Rose Tyler. I knew you'd understand." He pressed a kiss into her hair. "Would you come with me? With the Doctor, I mean?"

Rose let out a sigh. "Might do, Doctor. Where would we go first?"

With a laugh, John shifted and pointed at a star. "That one."

"Yeah?"

"I'd take you to every single one if I could, Rose." His hand tightened on her arm.

"That would be nice." Idly, Rose played with the zipper on his jacket. "John…"

"Hmm?"

"I like you. Maybe even fancy you..." Warmth flooded through his entire body at her words. "It's just... I don't know how… There are things, stuff that needs to be worked out."

As she stumbled over the words, he realized that this may be too soon after the end of her engagement. "If you need more time, I'll understand. I won't like it, but I'll understand."

"No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?" In the back of his mind he was afraid this was another brush off.

"You remind me of someone," Rose admitted in a rush. "This… this man I once knew. Like you, he was a great guy, sweet when he wanted to be, funny, and completely, utterly brilliant."

"Oh," John said, unsure of where she was going with this. Did she only like him because he reminded her of this bloke? "Who was he? An ex-boyfriend?"

She sighed and turned to look at the night sky. "No, definitely not my boyfriend. He was my best mate, though. We travelled together. I was young and completely, madly in love with him and I thought that he felt the same way, maybe he did. Still didn't stop him from taking me for granted. One day when I thought that I knew for sure he'd be alright without me, I left him."

"Where is he now?" he asked, studying her.

"I sort of haven't seen him since that day. I think he's lonely, but he never came back for me. Probably didn't want to interfere with my life or something. At least that's what he'd say." Rose turned towards him. "I didn't date anyone for five years after him."

John wanted to know more about this man that Rose seemed to be comparing him to, but he had to be careful not to push her. "Do you miss him?"

"Sometimes, yeah. But like I said in the lab that day, life's about moving forward, you know." Rose flexed her hand on his chest. Her voice sounded tired. "I guess my point is, I like you, John, and I'm not as naïve as I was when I met him, but I could still get hurt."

"I'd never hurt you, Rose. I want to spend every day of the rest of my life cherishing you." He dropped his gaze to her lips, darting his tongue out to wet his own.

Pushing herself up, Rose's cold lips met his. The kiss was soft and over before it really started. From that moment he knew that he'd never get enough of this. Anything Rose Tyler had to offer, he wanted.

"Please don't hurt me, John," Rose whispered, burying her face in his neck.

"Never," he promised, holding her tightly to him. A small contented noise escaped from her before she drifted off to sleep. If it wasn't so cold out here, he'd be content to stay out here all night with her, but it was bloody freezing. After a few minutes he gathered her up his arm and effortlessly carried her upstairs.

Removing her jacket and boots, he tucked her under the covers and kissed her cheek. "Goodnight, Rose," he whispered before slipping out of the room. As he walked down the stairs, the effects of the alcohol made him a bit unsteady on his feet. Probably best if he walked home. He zipped up his jacket and pulled down his hat and headed outside and down the street. Tonight was hopefully just the start of brilliant things to come.

~oOo~

With the last of the payroll numbers completed, Rose sent the file back to the home office. She'd worked through lunch to catch up on the paper work she'd neglected in favour of her lab. Not that she minded. Her stomach was still slightly unsettled from the copious amounts of alcohol she had consumed last night. She wasn't sure how John's human body was coping with the after effects of the alcohol. Part of her hoped that he was suffering a few ill effects as pay back for those mornings that the Doctor had touted his superior biology. It would serve him right when he woke up with memories of that.

Her phone rang, derailing her train of thought. "Pinnacle Enterprises, Rose Tyler speaking," she answered, leaning back in her chair.

 _"Hello, gorgeous. How's life in the mountains?"_ Immediately, she recognized Jack's voice. _"It's been almost two weeks since I've heard from you, sweetheart. I had to learn about the break up with Liam from Martha. You haven't been answering anyone's calls and have only sent vague email messages. If your assistant hadn't put the call through just now I would have been on the next plane out there. Is everything alright?_

Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm fine, the Doctor's fine, the TARDIS is fine, and I've just been busy, Jack, with Liam's surprise visit, John being in the hospital and then the two of them spending the night in jail for fighting." The rest of the story came out in a rush including what had happened last night but not what was in the message that the Doctor had left just for her. That was something that she wanted to keep just for herself. When she was done she felt relieved now that she was finally able to talk to someone about everything that had been going one. Someone who knew the whole story. God, she missed Jack.

 _"So what are you going to do about John?"_ Jack's voice was teasing. _"I mean you kissed him. Are you going to play that off as being drunk, or are you going to take my advice and shag John Smith senseless? Because I was halfway joking then, Rosie. I mean what's the Doctor going to say when he wakes up and you've been dating someone with his face?"_

"I was wrong, Jack," she sighed.

_"What?"_

"When I said that John wasn't the Doctor. He is. I know he is. He hasn't got the Doctor's memories but who he is underneath, that's all Doctor." Rose's mobile buzzed on the desk. "The Doctor is… it's almost like he's leaking through into John. Especially in his dreams. It's hard to explain." Picking up her mobile, she read a text message from the man in question.

_How are you feeling after last night?_

Deftly she typed her answer, _Not too bad, I've had worse hangovers._ She smiled, remembering the night Jack had introduced her to hypervodka and how upset her leather clad Doctor had been the next day.

 _"I believe you, Rose. Even after all that time apart, you'd know,"_ Jack said on the other end of the phone. _"Just be careful. You're just coming off the end of a long-term relationship and I'd hate to see you get hurt."_

Her phone buzzed again. "Thanks, Jack, for everything. I gotta run, and I promise I won't go so long between calls."

_"I'll talk to you soon. Love you, Rosie."_

"Love you too, Jack," she said as she rang off and read the message from John.

_Sounds like you're doing better than me._

Undoubtedly true, even though she'd drunk more than he had. She had the benefit of years of dealing with the after effects.

 _Well, maybe I just have superior biology._ She typed back. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility, not with her quick healing.

It only took a moment for his reply to come in. _Haha Remind me to never drink that much again._

Rose was about to counter with a cheeky comment when another text came in from John. _Dinner tonight? My treat._

Four little innocent words, and her answer to them could change the entire course of her relationship with John Smith and ultimately with the Doctor. Even more than her drunken confessions last night. There was no more doubt in her mind where she wanted this to go, and it was high time she stopped running from it.

_It's a date. Pick me up at 6pm. You're taking me someplace nice._


	15. Chapter 15

**~oOo~**

John had practically skipped with excitement as he made his way up to Rose's front door. She had called this a date. A DATE! And she had told him to take her someplace nice so he had reserved a table at the posh French restaurant near Bear Lodge. He was surprised by how easy it had been to get a table, but there had apparently been a last minute cancelation. The weather report was calling for a light snow, and some people didn't like to drive in inclement weather. John chuckled. It was mid-November in Colorado; were people expecting a temperate climate?

Things were coming up roses, no pun intended.

After the arrangements were made, he'd called Rose and told her it was black tie attire for their date, and he hoped that was alright. She had assured him that it was more than fine and had tried to pester the location out of him. He had, however, refused to clue her in on the surprise.

When he'd knocked, he suddenly had a small panic inducing thought that maybe he should have brought flowers. Women liked flowers on a first date, right? He supposed they did. Blimey, it had been so long since he'd been on a date that he had forgotten.

All of his fears had melted away when Rose had answered the door wearing that gold dress. It had a sleeveless bodice with two bands of sparkling beads ending in an empire waist. The sweeping skirt fell to her ankles. She looked like a goddess.

Somehow he stammered through hellos before regaining his composure. His hands had grazed the bare skin of her shoulder as he helped her into her jacket. Her heels were precarious so he had helped her down the front steps as they walked out to his car. She'd grinned when he finally announced their destination. So far, so good.

Honestly, he'd expected things to be a little more awkward than this. It was, officially, their first date after all. He shouldn't really have been surprised that tonight wasn't any different than any of the other times that they had gone dinner. Well, there was one notable exception so far. When he'd taken her hand, she hadn't pulled away after a few minutes. Instead she had gently rubbed circles on the back of his hand with her thumb.

This new, less than casual touching hadn't ended there either. When they made it to the restaurant, he laid a hand on the small of her back, and she'd leaned into his touch. At the table, he held out her chair for her, letting his fingers trail across her back as he pushed it in. Their knees brushed each other's under the table, and each and every time they made contact he felt that now familiar and exhilarating shiver run down his spine.

"What looks good to you?" Rose asked, picking up her menu.

His eyes skated over the words written in French. He'd spent time in France during his time as a travel writer and he knew that he should easily be able to understand the little characters on the page. However Rose's hand was gently resting on his knee and it was distracting, and all it was doing was sitting there. Her hand was completely stationary but the warmth of her palm radiating through the fabric of his trousers was enough to drive him barmy.

"John." She nudged him with her elbow, breaking contact with his knee. "Dinner?"

Shaking away the thoughts of her hand on him, he smiled at her. "Sorry, got a bit distracted. Why don't you show off your very impressive knowledge of languages and order for me? Please." He set down his menu and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. His thumb rubbed circles on the nape of neck. It was his turn to tease her with seemingly innocuous touches.

"You want me to order?" She gave him a tongue touched grin. "Is that because you want me to show off my impressive skills or because you don't have any of your own?"

"Maybe I just want to hear you curl that tongue of yours around those French words," he whispered in her ear.

"Just the words?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Or would you like my tongue curled around other things too?"

His mouth went completely dry at her words and at the images that her words evoked. Before he could start the list of all the things he wanted either of their tongues to do, they were interrupted by the waiter. Rose didn't miss a beat when he asked for their order. Vaguely he recognized the names of a few of the dishes and that she ordered wine. How could she be so calm after the words she'd just said to him?

Oh, Rose Tyler was a minx, she was, and he liked it.

They fell into their normal playful banter as they waited for their food to arrive. She told him about the new project that she had just green lit for Malcolm and that Joan had filed a wrongful termination suit. Thankfully, Clara had taken care of working with the company's lawyer.

When dinner came, Rose insisted on him having a bite of her beef bourguignon. Then he let her try a bite of his cassoulet. Quickly their meal devolved into one of those overly cute things that couples did: feeding each other in public. He hated watching other people do that. With Rose though, it was just…he didn't even know how to describe it, except that it felt right.

Soon the waiter cleared their plates, and John took her hand. "Fancy a dance?"

Rose beamed. "I thought you'd never ask." He led her out to the dance floor as the music played. She rested her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped her in his arms. "This is a pretty fancy place. Not to mention expensive. How'd you swing the last minute dinner reservations?"

Tugging her a little tighter, he replied, "I promised them a write up on my travel blog, and of course a lot of begging. And I wasn't concerned about the cost. I figured you'd pick up the bill."

She chuckled. "Wouldn't be the first time I paid for a first date with a bloke. I paid for many a date in my time with him."

"What kind of blokes did you date?" He spun her around and then pulled her back to him.

"All sorts, really. But this one bloke, he has a bit Rock-a-Billy and a bit bohemian. He lived in his transport, was downright rude at times, but he could be a lot of fun too." There was just a little bit of sadness in her voice.

They didn't talk as they danced though the next two songs. In the middle of the third, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You are stunning, Rose," he breathed against her ear.

"Not so bad yourself," Rose murmured.

The restaurant was about to close by the time they finally left. He wondered how the hours of dancing in those incredibly sexy high heels hadn't killed her feet. No need for her to continue to walk on them. He scooped her up and carried her bridal style to his car. They giggled the entire time.

"I had a really great time tonight," Rose told him as she settled into the passenger seat.

"Me too," he agreed before moving to the driver's side.

Rose smiled as he pulled out of the car park. "We should do this again sometime."

"The dinner or the dancing?"

"Both is good, very good," Rose answered. "Although you don't have to do the big, impressive dates every night. I like just hanging around the house, too. Watching movies or stargazing."

"And running in the morning." He took her hand and placed their joined hands in his lap.

"Running in the morning and having breakfast together." Leaning her head against the headrest, she grinned contentedly. A companionable silence fell over them.

When he pulled into the driveway, for a brief moment he was afraid she was going to bolt, the same way that she had the first time that they had gone to dinner, but she didn't. Instead she waited for him to open the door for her. His hand again rested on the small of her back as he walked her to her door.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked when he stopped outside her door.

Yes, he thought immediately. Yes, he very much wanted to come in. However, he wanted to do this right, and this was their first date. First real date anyway, so he would take things slow. "I probably shouldn't. It's late, and I want to make our run in the morning."

The look of disappointment in her eyes was evident when she nodded. "I really did have a great time. Thank you, John."

"No, thank you," he replied, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek. Before he could overthink things, he leaned down and kissed her softly. At first, his lips gently moved against hers, just barely touching, but then she nipped at his bottom lip and he opened to her. His tongue plunged into her mouth, sliding against hers. A moan escaped her, and he pushed her against the door. When they had to break for air, he took a small step backwards, immediately missing the feeling of her pressed up against him.

"I'll see you in the morning." He kissed her again, almost chastely.

"Night," she said shakily before slipping inside.

He waited until he heard the lock click before heading back to his SUV. Tonight, he was lucky that his hot water wasn't always consistent. It was going to be a cold shower kind of night.

~oOo~

She snuggled deeper into his side as they sat on the sofa. His fingers slid slowly through her hair. A fire crackled in the fireplace, and Christmas music played softly in the background. It was the first weekend of December, and a light snow was falling outside.

Sighing, Rose let her eyes fall shut. In John's arms she felt completely relaxed. They had been officially dating each other for a few weeks now. The only thing that had changed really was the physical affection. They still texted each other all day long, went for a run every morning and had dinner together every night. However, now their hugs were more lingering, casual touches were more intimate, there was snogging.

Lots of snogging and that was as far as it went. Taking things to the next level before the Doctor was fully back to himself was a scary proposition. She wanted it to happen and so did John, but she was sure that he was waiting on her to make the first move.

Every day, she was more and more convinced that John was the Doctor, just without the memories and the burdens of being the last of the Time Lords. When he was fully himself, the Doctor seemed to shy away from things like kissing and shagging. At least he always had with her, and she didn't want the Time Lord to be scared off with memories of something having happened that he wouldn't want.

The ringing of her mobile pulled her out of her thoughts. "Hold on, I'll grab it," John said, reaching over and grabbing it. "Oh look, it says Mum. I wonder, Rose Tyler," he smirked, "have you told your mum about us yet?"

Panic welled inside her. The truth was she hadn't told her mum about John yet. The only people who knew that the Doctor was hiding here were Liam and Jack. The less people who knew, the safer it would be for everyone. "John, give me the phone." She made a grab for the phone but he jumped up and held it above his head.

"Oh, that means you haven't told her yet, have you?" he replied cheekily. "Now's as good as time as any to introduce myself to a future in-law."

"John, stop!" But it was too late. He had already answered the phone and was holding it to his ear.

"Rose Tyler's phone," he chirped. "How can I help you?"

Luckily, he'd lowered the phone enough that she could grab it. She heard her mother yelling something about the Doctor as Rose hastily said that she'd call her back in a moment. She took a deep breath, trying to stop herself from yelling.

His bottom lip protruded in a pout. "Did I do something wrong?" If it wasn't for the fact that pout turned into smug smile, she would have believed that he truly didn't know.

"You numpty," she cried, punching him in the arm. "I just ended a five-year relationship with a man my mum really likes, and she is like a grandmother to his daughter. Now is not the time to spring the new boyfriend on her. Especially not like that."

Amazingly the grin on his face grew. "So that's what we are?" He rocked slightly on his heels. "Are you my girlfriend, Rose Tyler?"

Her mobile began buzzing once again. "Of course I'm your girlfriend, you tosser." She gave him a quick peck on the lips before walking out of the room to deal with the fallout of those ten seconds he was on the phone.

She punched the speed dial, and her mum picked up on the first ring. "Hello, Mum," Rose said, walking up the stairs. "Sorry about that early. I'm having a bit of an issue with my service."

 _"Rose Marion Tyler,"_ Jackie snapped. _"Was that who I think it was answering your phone? Took his skinny arse long enough to come see you, bloody alien git."_

"What are you talking about?" Confused, Rose entered her bedroom and shut the door behind her. "What do you mean?"

Jackie sighed. _"He comes for a visit every few months. Always asking about you. Wanting to make sure you're alright. We'd have tea, sometimes I'd let him tinker with the washing machine or the microwave. The first time, though, I slapped him. "_

"Of course," Rose agreed absentmindedly, still shocked by what she was hearing. The Doctor had visited her mother.

_"Well, I asked him, I did, if he was gonna try and make things right with you, and he told me he couldn't see you. Something about already landing in the future and knowing he wasn't allowed to see yet. Or it might bring on the reapers, I think. I never know what that man is talking about half the time. So that was really him on the phone, wasn't it?"_

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Rose had to make a split second decision, tell her mum the truth or come up with some story on the fly. She hated lying to her mum. The truth it was then. "Yes, that was the Doctor, sorta anyway."

Her mum laughed. _"Well, that's good, innit? Looks like the timelines finally match up or whatever. At least that's what himself told me for why he couldn't see you. At least he waited until you and Liam separated before coming back."_

"That's sorta what the message said." Rose chewed her lip. Her mum had been getting regular visits from the Doctor and hadn't said anything. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.

 _"Well, I'm just glad you're giving him another chance. I know he was a twat and took you for granted, but nothing happened with the French bint,"_ Jackie assured her. _"Slapped him_ _twice for that."_ She paused for a moment. _"What'd ya mean, that's what the message said?"_

With a sigh, Rose answered. "Something happened to the Doctor and he has this..." How was she going to explain this? "He has this sort of amnesia. His memories will come back; it's just gonna take time, so there were these messages that he left for whoever the TARDIS picked to take care of him. How come you never told me he was visiting you?"

_"Like I said, sweetheart, the reapers. It's a shame that the first time he sees you after all these years, he can't even remember you. I know he missed you terribly."_

John's voice rang out from downstairs, and Rose was glad to have an excuse to ring off with her mum. "Yeah, it's a shame. Look, I've got to run. I'll call you in a few days."

_"Alright, love you."_

"Love you, too," Rose replied before hanging up. Her mind was racing. He'd visited her mum multiple times, sent her flowers and even tried, in his own overbearing way, to ensure that Liam wasn't going to hurt her. Normally when he left or was left, he didn't go back.

All of these little things that he had done while they were separated, more than anything in the Doctor's messages, made her feel like she was different, special. They might have a lot to talk about when he finally opened the watch, but this was the first time that she really, truly knew that they would find a way to work things out.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note the rating change for this chapter. Also big thanks to lastincurableromantic for all her beta help.

**~oOo~**

A weather alert beeped on Rose's phone. They were calling for heavy snow for the next few days, up to two feet here on the mountain. She had already made the call to shut down Pinnacle until the weather cleared. Biting her lip, she wondered what to do about John. The risk of a power outage was high with these types of storms, and his old flat was surely going to lose power.

Whereas she had a backup generator that would keep the pipes from freezing, a fireplace in the lounge and a pellet stove in her room. So her place would at least be warm, and she had plenty of food stock piled in case of inclement weather.

It's not like she would have a problem with him staying over. There was just the small matter of the TARDIS in her basement. John seeing the Old Girl most likely would not be a good thing. More than likely it would be a disaster. Knowing John though, if his power went out he'd trudge through the snow to get to her.

Once, the Doctor had had the nerve to call her jeopardy friendly. Well, his human self was attempting to break any record she had held, and she couldn't have him risking his health, not again. Pulling out her phone, she fired off a quick text.

_Snowstorm's coming, fancy a sleepover at my place?_

She'd figure out how to hide the TARDIS later. Maybe even see if the old girl could set up some type of muggle repelling charm or whatever the fobbed Time Lord equivalent would be. Her phone beeped.

_Thought you'd never ask. Anything I can bring?_

Her fingers flew across her screen. _I'm stocked for a few days. Just bring whatever you'll need._

Rose smiled as she slid her laptop into her bag. It was going to be an interesting few days for sure.

…

His bag was crammed with more stuff than he might possibly need for a few days, but he wanted to be prepared in case things blossomed into more than just snow day sleepovers. Not so secretly, he was overjoyed to get to spend the next few days with her and not just because of the prospect of moving their relationship to the next level. Any time spent with Rose was nothing short of amazing.

The cold was already starting to seep into his flat. His thin walls were no match for the frigid air that was coming, and he didn't have a generator to run his small ceramic heater if the power went out. Rose was a saint for making sure he didn't freeze to death, and he chuckled as he thought of ways that he could make his gratitude known.

Picking up his suitcase and computer bag, he noticed his journal sitting on his nightstand. He'd told Rose about his dreams, and she'd seemed interested. Even asked him if he kept having them, but he hadn't shown her his journal. At least not yet.

Was it something that he wanted to show her? She, or more accurately the Doctor's Rose, featured heavily in it. He picked up the leather bound book and stared at it a moment. He didn't want to be without it if he had another dream since he'd been toying with the idea of turning the Doctor's adventures into a series of books. The more dreams he could document, the easier it would be to turn them into stories. He shoved it in the bag with his laptop and headed towards the front door. More than likely Rose would be interested in it if she saw it. He would just need to find the right opportunity to show her.

The clouds rolling in were ominous, and snow was already beginning to fall as he drove his car the short distance to his destination. Soon the entire town would be covered in pure white. In his mind's eye, he saw another winter wonderland.

_It was freezing, but he had his leather jacket and his human companion to keep him warm. Rose curled into his side as they walked under waves that had frozen instantaneously. He told her the history of the planet and its people, and she listened attentively to every word. "It's beautiful, Doctor," she said softly. "Thank you, for everything." His hearts swelled with love for her. For the hundredth time since they'd met, he was ready to chuck out all of his steadfastly held rules._

John shook his head clear as he parked in her driveway. It was snowing harder now. Quickly he grabbed his bags and trudged up the steps. A few days ago, after the phone call with her mum, Rose had added him to the very short list of people who could access home through the security system. Now he was able to come and go as he pleased, with Rose's permission of course.

"Hello," he called as he shut the door behind him. "Anybody here?"

"Be out in a mo," Rose called, coming up the stairs from the basement. "Just making sure the generator is ready to go." After ascending the stairs, she shut the door behind her and crossed to where he was standing. "Won't be much good to heating the whole house, but it'll keep the pipes from freezing and the security system running. Luckily the stove runs on gas so we'll still be able to eat and have tea."

"Well, tea is the most important thing. Well, other than huddling together for warmth?" John asked. Dropping his bags on the kitchen floor, he kissed her. His teeth nibbled on her bottom lip, and her arms slid around his neck. "I missed you today."

Giggling, Rose pulled herself out of his arms. "You saw me this morning and last night." Taking his hand, she led him to the sofa. "I'm surprised that you're not sick of me by now. After this snow clears, you probably won't be able to run out of here fast enough."

"That is patently untrue, Rose Tyler." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to him. "I will never get tired of you. In fact, I'm sure quite the opposite is true. You'll be shoving me out the door in a blizzard before too long." He pulled her down on the sofa and settled them into it.

"You're right. I'm tired of you already. Might as well head home now, or maybe I'll make you sleep downstairs," she taunted.

The corners of his lips twitched. "Banishing me from the bedroom before I'm even allowed in it? That had got to be some sort of record, doesn't it?" Although his tone was light, teasing even, he held his breath while he waited for her to respond.

Her hand slid down to the hem of his jumper, playing with the material there for a moment before stilling her hand. "Oh, I never said banished. In fact if you play your cards right, I may just let you be the big spoon."

"I'll be on my best behavior then," he replied, placing a kiss in her hair.

Twisting, Rose looked up at him with an evil grin on her face. "I didn't say _that_ either."

….

Hours later she was awoken from her slumber by John mumbling in his sleep beside her. They had spent the evening watching movies. He'd insisted on Doris Day this time and at some point during Send Me No Flowers, she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Soon after, he'd carried her upstairs. She'd asked him to stay, and he promised that he would as soon as he ran downstairs for his bags. Apparently, she'd fallen asleep again before he'd come back to bed. She was glad that he'd joined her rather than trying to do something chivalrous like sleep in the guest room.

There was very little light in the room. The fact that her alarm clock was blank told her that the power had gone out at some point in the night. Propping herself onto her elbow, she studied his face. He was so relaxed in sleep. The Doctor had been too, she noted, on the occasions that she had seen him sleep. But John was even more so. John was happy, carefree and focused on the happy moments in life. He didn't have to carry the burdens that the Doctor did. John had never had to bring about the end of his own people, to lose everyone that he loved time and time again. Her heart ached for him, and while she knew that she had made the right choice all those years ago, she also knew that she'd hurt him when she left.

Her fingers drifted to his face, tracing his lips and nose. Gliding across his eyebrow, she stopped when she got to his temple and cupped his cheek. In his sleep, he leaned into her touch. "Rose," he breathed with a smile on his lips. Afraid to wake him fully, she moved her hand away. Almost immediately his smile turned to a grimace, and his eyes flew open.

His eyes were unfocused and unseeing. She doubted that he was even fully awake, and she moved back, not wanting to startle him more. Sitting up, his hands groped for something on nightstand, but there was nothing there.

"What are you looking for?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Turning towards her, he blinked. "Rose, you're here." He shook his head. "Sorry I just, had another one of those dreams. Was going to write it down in my journal; it's still in my bag. When I woke up, I forgot where I was for a moment. Sorry." Leaning over, he tried to turn on a lamp, but when it clicked nothing happened.

"What journal?" She had never heard him mention a journal before.

He tugged at his ear. "The journal that I keep all of my dreams in. I try and write them down in the morning so I won't forget them. It's rather silly. I'd show them to you, but we seem to have no power."

Reaching over, Rose pulled a torch out of the drawer on her bedside table. "We have this." She handed it to John. "You don't have to show it to me if you don't want to. But if you wanted to write down the dream you just had, I'll hold the torch and look in the other direction."

Laughing, he used the torchlight to find his computer bag and pull out the journal. He settled back into the bed and snuggled her against him. "I want to show you." He flipped it open to a page with a Dalek drawn on it. "I call my _Journal of Impossible Things_."

Rose lightly traced her finger over the picture. "You are quite an artist, and these pictures, they are so real."

"I could sell the ideas for them to a movie studio and make a mint," he replied cheekily.

Turning the pages, she saw more pictures of everything from the Moxx of Balhoon to Autons, all surrounded by his almost illegible scrawl. Phrases like _Plastic Men, They're all Gone, and Why do they live and everything dies?_ stood out on the pages.

Splashed across another two pages were the faces of nine men that Rose assumed were other regenerations of the Doctor. Her eyes lingered on the strong features of her first Doctor. Quickly, she turned the page before an errant tear splashed onto it.

The next page held a picture of the TARDIS. "That's the Doctor's ship. It can go anywhere in time and space." His fingers ghosted over her neck.

"It's beautiful," Rose murmured.

Smiling, John planted a kiss in her hair. "You think so?"

"Oh yes." Sighing, Rose felt a wave of contentment emanating from the basement. The connection between her and the ship had seemingly been growing stronger every day. Turning another page, she found her face and she gasped. He had drawn her so beautifully. Even though he'd told her that he dreamed of her as a companion it was still a shock.

"You feature in a lot of my dreams," he whispered. "Having his Rose by his side lightened the Doctor's burden. Traveling with his Rose was one of the best times in his long life. He loved her very much but was too afraid to tell her." His fingers gripped her shoulder. "Then he did something, something that hurt her very deeply and she left. He never had the chance to make things right."

"He loved her?" Rose asked, wanting to hear him say it again.

John closed the book and set it down on the nightstand. "He will always love her, just as much as I will always love you."

Her heart skipped a beat. She had never said it when she traveled with him, even if she felt it. She may never be able to say it again once the watch was opened, but she needed him to know. "I love you, too."

Shifting her onto her back, he brought his lips down to hers. Her fingers tangled in his hair. When his fingers made their way under her shirt, she moaned with pleasure. "Is this alright?" he asked as his hands moved up her torso.

"Better than." She smirked and arched into him. "Could go a bit higher." Her hands snaked down the waistband of his pajama bottoms. "Or a bit lower."

"I'm sure that I'll get there, eventually." In one fluid movement, he managed to shift her and remove her top. He was thankful she had forgone a bra.

When the cold air hit her, she shivered. "I think I'll need you to warm me up."

He lowered his mouth to her sternum and pressed an open mouth kiss in the valley between her breasts. "I think that can be arranged." One of his hands found her left breast. Rolling the nipple between his thumb and forefinger, she moaned in pleasure. He smirked before lowering his mouth to it. His teeth grazed the soft skin, making her hiss. Chuckling he moved his attentions lower, kissing his way down her abdomen. His tongue dipped into her navel before finally meeting the waistband of her jimjam bottoms.

Beneath him, she writhed with pleasure. "Please, John," she begged.

"Please what, love?" He tugged the offending garment and the knickers underneath down her long legs.

"I need you to touch me," Rose moaned.

"Have been touching you." Gently he placed his hands on her knees and spread her legs apart. His lips kissed up the inside of her thighs but didn't reach the spot where she needed him to be.

Her fingernails dug into his shoulders, pleading with him. He wanted to taste her. He wanted to take his time, wanted to tease her. Right now though, after all of these long years waiting for this moment he couldn't wait. Pushing himself up, he realized that he had thought years, not weeks. Where had that thought come from?

"Please," she whimpered, tugging on his arms. "Need you."

Once again he gave her his full attention, everything else forgotten. His lips retraced their trail up her body. When he reached her neck, he stopped, sucking hard enough to leave a mark on the spot where her neck met her shoulder.

Slipping a hand into his pants, she wrapped her hand around his now fully erect cock and stroked him. Rose wasn't going to let him set the pace anymore.

With a growl he grabbed both of her hands and pinned them above her head with one of his. "Any more of that and I won't last long."

"Next time then?" she asked cheekily.

"If you insist." He kissed her softly and with his free hand tested to see if she was ready for him. When he pushed one finger into her wet heat she moaned.

Writhing beneath him, she begged, "Now, inside me now."

Reaching between them he lined himself up with her and slowly sank into her. "Rose," he moaned. The feel of her slick walls surrounding him was nothing short of heaven. Her legs wrapped around his waist. After a moment, she rocked her hips, grinding against him and encouraging him to move. His thrusts were slow at first but sped up at her urging. Skin slapped against skin. "Rose," he grunted.

"Faster, harder," she cried. "So close."

John moved a hand between them, and he rubbed her clit. "Come for me, love. Let me see you." She clenched around him, and he couldn't hold back any more. Her name echoed off the walls as he came, and she bit back the name Doctor as she shattered. Collapsing on top of her he grinned. "That was brilliant," he murmured against her lips.

Humming contentedly, she rolled him off of her and pulled up the duvet. "Yes, it was." The two of them snuggled closely, and the snow continued to fall.

They made love again just as the sun was beginning to rise behind the clouds. In her ear, he whispered his love and devotion as they joined their bodies. Enough light made its way into the room for her to see the look of utter contentment and joy on his face. When they both collapsed against the bed, Rose waited until his breathing evened out and whispered, "I love you, my Doctor."


	17. Chapter 17

~oOo~

"You are asking an awful lot of favours and not giving me any answers, Jack," Clara sighed into the phone. "I need something more than a 'trust me.' You don't exactly have the most stellar reputation."

 _"Look, I know it's a lot to ask, and I will debrief you fully at the end of the assignment. Until then I just need to make sure you continue to report anything suspicious to me. You know, alien encounters, weird energy readings, space ships landing, the usual,"_ he said on the other end of the line.

"I don't work for you, Jack, and besides, you could just call Rose. I'm sure she would be very helpful in passing you information." Leaning over, Clara grabbed the file with the latest printouts from Pinnacle's lawyer. She was ready to get off the phone with Jack and away from her triple agent job and just get back to the one that she was doing as a double agent. "Unless you don't want her to know that you're spying on her."

There was silence on the other end of the line. Oh, that was telling. Jack was hardly ever quiet. "That's it, isn't it? You don't want her to know that you're asking me to do this behind her back?"

 _"Your job, Private Oswald, is to spy on Pinnacle and your boss has ordered to assist me when needed,"_ Jack replied curtly.

She wondered how many favours he had had to cash in to get her superior officer to agree to this. UNIT and Jack's Torchwood had a delicate relationship. Both tended to see the other as a necessary evil. "Fine, I will let you know if I see anything out of the ordinary." After I've thoroughly investigated myself, she added to herself. "Gotta run." She shut off her mobile before Jack had a chance to respond.

In the grand scheme of things, this was a cushy assignment for her. Monitor the technology coming out of Pinnacle, then pass the names of promising scientists and potentially dangerous or useful inventions on to her superiors. They even let her keep both of her paychecks. She was only in her late 20s and had built a nest egg big enough that she could retire tomorrow if she wanted to.

When Rose had shown up though, things changed. It wasn't that she didn't like Rose, far from it. She liked to think of Rose as a good friend, even if Clara had to lie to her about her true identity. The secrets were the problem. Ten days before Rose arrived, Clara's commanding officer had called and told her that Rose had known ties to the Doctor. Although how Rose was connected to the alien, like most everything else about him, was on a need to know basis.

Implicit orders were also given that Rose was not to be informed of UNIT's presence here. They were still a bit sore over Rose's refusal to work for them. Clara was also told to expect to be contacted by Captain Harkness and to assist him when needed. Jack's reputation preceded him. It was reported that he singlehandily took down Yvonne Hartman and her corrupted branch of Torchwood. Clara had doubts that he'd done it by himself however.

"Clara," Rose called from outside the brunette's office door. "I'm gonna head out for the evening. You should too, yeah? Been working too hard lately."

"I'm just going to reply to the attorney on the Redfern matter. It seems Dr Redfern has also filed a complaint, saying that 'Pinnacle has now created a hostile work environment'. He hasn't even begun to see me hostile yet," Clara huffed.

Chuckling, Rose replied, "Well, don't get to hostile. I may need you to take over for me in a few months, and I don't want you to be fired in the meantime."

"You're leaving?" This was most definitely a shock.

Sighing, Rose tilted her head to the side. "Well, we haven't talked about it yet, but John is only here until he finishes his book. After that, he'll probably go back to traveling."

"And you're just going to go with him? Drop everything and leave?"

Rose shrugged a shoulder. "Like I said, we haven't talked about it, but if he asks, I'll go." The blonde gave her assistant a small smile. "He makes me happy."

"You look happy," Clara agreed. "Happier than you have been since I met you." Rose's smile grew, and it was infectious. "I want us to have drinks soon so we can discuss the possibility of you leaving me. Now get out of here and go see that man who makes you so happy."

"Night, Clara," Rose said before disappearing down the hall.

Groaning, Clara briefly wondered if Rose deciding to leave everything in her life for someone she'd only known for two months was something suspicious that she should call Jack about. Deciding against it, she quickly typed up a reply to the lawyer and left for the night. It might be a good time to review some of the files that she'd been sent on Rose and Jack. Maybe she could call in a favour and pull one on the Doctor too. Something was telling her that he might be important in all of this.

**~oOo~**

John rolled over, reaching for Rose only to find himself alone in the bed. Since the night of the snowstorm, he had only returned to his flat to get more clothes. Clothes that had subsequently found their way into a drawer of his very own in her bureau or were hanging in her closet or strewn all over her bedroom floor.

Spending the night in Rose's bed also had another benefit: his dreams had changed. There used to be a haunted quality to them. The Doctor was burdened with pain, loss and guilt. Now he dreamed of the Doctor having Rose by his side once more. The two of them spent their days running through the stars and their nights wrapped up in each other. It was everything that the Doctor had always wanted, but he had been too much of a coward to push to the next level.

Sometimes he was infinitely glad that he wasn't the Doctor. Swinging his legs over the side of his bed, he stood up and headed to the en suite to take care of usual morning business. Christmas music drifted from downstairs so he knew Rose must not have woken too long before he did. He quickly showered and threw on jeans and a jumper. He ran a hand down his scruffy face and then through his hair, making it stick up in every direction.

Making his way downstairs, he heard Rose singing along with _Santa Baby._ The sound of her voice was beautiful and seductive. She was standing at the stove with her back to him, her hips swaying in time with the music. As quietly as he could, he snuck up behind her. When his arms wrapped around her waist she leaned into him. "Happy Christmas," he whispered before placing a kiss on her neck.

"Happy Christmas to you too," she purred before turning to face him. Rising up on her tiptoes, she kissed him softly. "I'm making breakfast. Cinnamon rolls. While they're baking I figured we could exchange presents, if you wanted to of course."

"I'd rather unwrap you." He nibbled his way down her neck, and she whimpered. Smirking against her skin, he sucked hard. It would leave a mark, and he was glad for it. There was no way to hide his love of marking her or being marked by her.

Rose's finger nails bit into his biceps, and she pushed him away. "Later, I promise. Right now, I'm famished from all the unwrapping we did last night." She kissed his nose. "And all the tying up too." Walking away towards the Christmas tree that they had put up in front of the wall of windows, there was no mistaking the extra swagger that she had in her steps. She was trying to kill him and on Christmas to boot. Could someone die from sexual frustration? Probably not, and she wouldn't keep him frustrated for long. She hadn't, not since that first night, only a few weeks ago now. "Come on, love," she called, sitting down on a cushion on the floor. "Are you going to stand over there, or are you going to come join me? Remember I've got prezzies."

"But it's so warm in here, and there's food," he teased, grabbing the cup of tea that she'd left out for him.

"Fine, I'll just open all these all by myself." Rose grabbed a package and started to rip off the paper.

He crossed the room in a heartbeat. "No fair starting without me." Dropping to the floor, he pulled her close to him. "At least you didn't try to open one from me. I want to watch you open them."

"Nope, this one's from Mum," she declared before she finished opening it. "Oh look, a _gorgeous_ new jumper." Rose held up a scratchy, blue monstrosity embroidered with a large reindeer with what appeared to be a blinking red nose.

"That is lovely," John replied, dropping a kiss on her temple. "I think you should wear that for the rest of the day."

"Shut up." She bumped his shoulder with hers. "I think she sent you one as well. There was another lumpy package in the box for you too. If I have to wear it, so should you."

Barely repressing a shudder, he took the jumper from her hands and threw it over his shoulder. "I don't think so."

"That's what I thought." For a few minutes, Rose unwrapped some of the other gifts that had been sent to her from across the pond: chocolates and a scarf from Mickey and Martha and homemade ornaments from their children.

Sophie had sent her a pair of silver hoop earrings and a hand drawn card. She hadn't known that the girl she had helped raise for the past few years had even sent a present this year. Guilt rolled over her in waves. On the two occasions that she had talked to the girl since her breakup with Liam, Sophie had seemed sad. The young girl was the true victim of the break up. Rose had to leave the room. Tears stinging in her eyes, she ducked into the downstairs loo.

She had sent Sophie a few first edition copies of a book series that she loved, as well as a necklace with a blue sapphire to match her eyes. Hopefully, she would be able to keep her promise to Liam and Sophie and stay a part of the young girl's life. That was going to be one of the very few deal breakers that she would have for the Doctor. No matter how uncomfortable it was for him, she would want to keep in touch with Sophie. She might never get to have a child of her own, and she refused to give up on the little girl she loved so much.

After taking about twenty minutes to compose herself, Rose came back into the main room. John was in the kitchen, putting cinnamon rolls onto plates for them. When he heard her, he turned around and smiled. "I know you said that you're hungry so I figured that I would finish up breakfast. Did you want to eat before we exchange our gifts?"

"That'd be great." She grinned, thankful he didn't press her about what had just happened. Taking the plates over and setting them down on the dining room table, he pulled the chair out and sat down. Sauntering over, Rose decided not to sit in a chair but instead she perched herself in his lap.

She had no idea how long that they sat there munching on breakfast and listening to Christmas music playing in the background. One of his arms was curled around her waist, his fingers absentmindedly drawing circles on her hipbone. It was more familiar than sexual, at least not at the moment. If he moved his hand a few centimetres, it would completely change his intent. She had to suppress a laugh at this. My, how times had changed in only a few short weeks, and they would change again, just over a week from now. The Doctor's time as John Smith was almost over.

When John had finished his breakfast, he shifted Rose so that he could pick her up. "Put me down, you daft man." She swatted at his shoulder, and he pretended to almost drop her. With a scream of surprise, she grabbed onto him tighter.

He deposited her on the same cushion they had shared before. After placing a kiss on the top of her head, he grabbed a few packages and sat down next to her. "Happy Christmas, Rose Tyler," he said softly, handing her a flat rectangular package. "Now, I didn't have much time or interest in shopping so a couple of them are handmade. But I hope you like them."

"I'm sure I'll love them," Rose replied, ripping off the paper. Inside was a framed sketch that John had drawn of her. Obviously it had been drawn from memory, from when they were making snowmen on her front lawn after the snow storm. He'd captured her in a moment of laughter. "It's beautiful, thank you."

"You're beautiful."

Rose blushed and ducked her head, letting her hair fall in front of her face. "Here," she said lunging for the only two boxes left under the tree. Handing him the larger of the two packages, she told him, "Open this one first."

With abandon he ripped off the paper to find a pair of brand new black Converse. "Oh, I love these," he blurted out, kissing her sloppily. "I can wear them with my tuxedo when I take you out for New Year's. My feet will be much more comfortable in these than yours will in those heels you wear when we go out."

Rose rolled her eyes, thinking that his first thought about what to wear his new shoes with was very Doctorish. "I'll have you know that my legs look amazing in heels."

"That they do, and your bum looks smashing as well. It's a shame you choose to cover up with yards of fabric." His hand stroked said leg through the fabric of her pyjamas.

"It's winter," she protested. "I promise in summer the skirts are much shorter."

"I can't wait." With a quick squeeze of her thigh, just above her knee, he turned his attention back to the remaining gifts in front of him. For a moment he hesitated in deciding which one of the two to give her first. "This one," he finally declared, handing her what first appeared to be a jewellery box.

Rose wondered if John had spent hours picking out the perfect little bauble for her. Purposefully, she took an exceedingly long time to open it, enjoying watching him squirm. When she finally extricated the box from its wrapping and removed the lid, she was shocked. Inside was a simple USB thumb drive. With a furrowed brow she turned to him; obviously she didn't understand what it meant.

"It's umm…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's my book, first draft of course. It hasn't even been sent to my publisher yet because I wanted you to read it first." By now he was tugging on his ear. "I didn't know how to give it to you. I mean, I could send it to your tablet; I know you like to read on that sometimes. Or I could have printed it, but it would have been bulky. Or maybe I could even read it to you. That seems like something that we'd both like. My voice soothing you while we're curled up next to the fire."

Smiling, Rose cut him off with a quick kiss. "Thank you, love. I can't wait to read it, or for you to read it to me."

"I think the story will really speak to you and show you how I feel about you." Gently he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "About how much I love you."

For a moment, Rose's mind returned to when they first met, when her Doctor in his leather jacket had taken her hand and talked about feeling the turn of the Earth. She could feel it now. Staring into this man's eyes, she could almost feel the turn of the Universe.

After a minute or two, Rose had to look away because it was too much, too intense. Grabbing the last gift that she had for him, she handed it over. "I hope that you like it."

Once again in his exuberant style, John ripped the wrapping paper off and added it to the pile they had going on the floor. "It's a scrapbook," she explained. Inside of it she had put little mementos of their time together: a take-away menu from their favourite burger place, a piece of evergreen from a tree at their favourite scenic spot, a lipstick smudged napkin from the French restaurant he'd taken her on their first real date, along with several pictures of them together. The Doctor never looked back, always forward, but this time she wanted him to have something to remember this part of their lives by.

"It's a little sentimental, I know," she explained. "Since we've only been, well, us, for about a month."

His long fingers delicately turned the pages of the book. "This is extraordinary, and you've even left blank pages at the end. So we can fill it up together, yes?"

"If you want," she answered. Her cheeks were tinged pink.

Setting down the scrapbook, he picked up the last thing that he had for Rose. "Open it," he told her, pressing the card into her hand.

Rose slipped her finger under the seam and unsealed it. Inside was a fairly normal yet festive holiday card. Tucked within that was a plane ticket, to Belize.

"I only came here to write a book." John took her hands, still holding the ticket, in his. "Stay for a little while and move on. Story of my life really, and that's fine. Then I met you, and it felt like my life turned upside down. I know this is fast and that we've only known each other a matter of weeks, but I don't want to be without you. So I want you to come with me when I go back to traveling. Or if you don't want to, I could stay here with you. I just… I can't imagine, don't want to imagine, a time where you and I aren't together."

John Smith couldn't yet give her the stars. Wouldn't be able to until the watch was opened and he remembered everything that he was. But right here in this moment, he was offering Rose everything that he could, to spend his life traveling with her. This time she wasn't going to make him ask twice.

"Yes," she exclaimed. "Whenever, wherever you go, I want to come with you."

"Brilliant," John breathed, pulling her onto his lap. "I love you." Those words flowed so freely from John. In a way she knew that from the Time Lord they never would.

"Love you too," she whispered before kissing him. His hands immediately slipped under the hem of her jumper. Their time together here as just John and Rose, simple humans leading simple lives, was quickly fading. Soon they would be the Doctor and Rose, a Time Lord and a companion (well, hopefully much more than a companion) traveling all of time and space. Even if the Doctor backpedalled on the more physical aspects of their relationship, right now she could show John just how much she loved him. Then, when he need to, the Doctor could remember.

**~oOo~**

"Y'all are sickly sweet. You know that, right?" Clara chuckled in the deepest southern accent she could manage at the moment before she downed the rest of her drink. Tomorrow night was New Year's Eve, but the three friends had decided to have a private party tonight before the big company one tomorrow. John wrapped his arm tighter around Rose's shoulder, and the blonde leaned into him, humming contentedly. "I mean it's cute and I'm happy for you and all, but the two of you need to get a room or something."

John opened his mouth to say something, but Clara cut him off. "And don't say that you already have a room. You need to use it." She couldn't help but smile at her two friends. They were so happy, but she was so confused. There were so many questions that were unanswered, and she didn't want to scare Rose by asking her.

After going through the files that UNIT had sent her, she made a shocking discovery. John Smith was identical to the Doctor. Or at least to one of his faces; UNIT knew of several but doubted they had them all. But John didn't act anything like the reports in the file indicated that he should. It was almost as if, if he was the Doctor he didn't know it. Then there had been the way that Rose had taken to him immediately.

So either he was some sort of doppelganger, or he was suffering from memory loss. When she'd asked Jack about the coincidences, he'd told her to drop it and to under no circumstances mention it to Rose. If she were in Vegas, or even Cripple Creek for that matter, she'd be placing a bet on amnesia. Her instincts warned her that there might be trouble, and even if she wasn't being given the whole story, it was her duty to protect others, including the Doctor.

Beside her, Rose yawned. "I think it's time to pack it in," Rose said, checking her watch. "It's nearly midnight."

"Your coach gonna turn into a pumpkin?" Clara teased.

"Yep, and my coachman here will turn back into a horse," Rose returned, grinning. "And I'm sure a horse in a pub is worse than a bull in a china shop."

"Especially a horse like him. As many accidents as he's had since he's gotten here," Clara giggled.

With a snort, John stood up and helped Rose with her coat. "He's standing right here, you know." When Rose was done, he grabbed Clara's and helped hers too.

"I know. That's the fun of it." Clara loved to torment him. "Thank you." She leaned over to Rose and whispered. "You make the best choices in boyfriends. Both of them are so polite, fist fights and arrests aside."

"I can give you Liam's number if you want," Rose said, smiling. Clara simply nodded, not wanting Rose to know that she and Liam had shared an email or two since he left.

"You know I can actually hear you," John snarked, throwing a few bills down on the table. "And I like to think that Rose's current choice of a boyfriend is the best." He leaned over and whispered in Clara's ear. "Though I do think that since you preferred the other one's physique, maybe you should take Rose up on her offer. He's quite available right now."

Clara elbowed him in the ribs and started walking towards the door. "You know it's not polite to gloat."

Catching up to her, Rose looped her arm through Clara's. The blonde was just a tiny bit tipsy; they both were. John, however, was still sober, saying that he'd save his drinking for New Year's Eve tomorrow, and Rose could play designated driver. "Do you need a lift home?" Rose asked when they stepped outside.

It was only a four or five block walk. Clara could easily do it, had done on her way here, but the temperature had dropped and she easily accepted the offer of a ride. The trio was almost to the John's SUV when something large and green streaked across the sky.

"Did you see that?" Clara exclaimed, her eyes locked onto the descent pattern. It appeared to have come down outside of town, on the way to the mines.

Beside her Rose stiffened. "Yeah, I did. Might be trouble." The last few words were almost inaudible.

Unlocking the car, John just shook his head. "Beautiful, just beautiful, but nothing more than a meteorite."

"Never seen a green meteorite before," Clara argued.

John helped Rose into the car and opened the door for Clara. "Just different compounds burning up in the atmosphere, nothing to worry about."

Not convinced, Clara scooted into the backseat. John carried the whole of the conversation himself on the short drive. Looking over at Rose, Clara knew that she wasn't the only one that didn't believe that was a normal meteorite. When they arrived at her house, Clara thanked them for the ride and a fun evening and slipped out. Her mind was racing as she went inside. No longer feeling the effects of the alcohol, she immediately grabbed her laptop.

There was nothing on the radar of UNIT's spy satellites that would explain things. With a frustrated grunt, she slammed her computer shut and darted across the room for her keys. She needed to see if that thing had come down somewhere. Momentarily she thought about calling Jack. He'd asked her to keep an eye on things, and this might be something he would want to know about.

Hopping into her car, she headed in the direction she had seen the thing in the sky heading. If she saw anything, she'd call Jack. She wouldn't want to cry wolf if this was nothing. When she reached the fields outside the mines, she slowed down. It was dark, the only light coming from a small house nearby and the tiniest sliver of moon.

Pulling off to the side of the road, she grabbed a torch and went off to investigate. It was quiet, no sounds of engines or smell of fire. Clara slowly swung her torch from side to side, looking for anything out of the ordinary. There was nothing there.

Maybe it was just a weird atmospheric phenomenon after all. She headed back to her car and drove home, still trying to fight that niggling feeling that she was getting. Maybe a good night's sleep was all she needed.

Had she arrived just a few minutes later, she would have seen enough to call in the cavalry. A young man in his late teens stepped out of the lone house on the edge of the field. He'd heard something earlier and went to see what was going on. Not twenty feet outside his back door he ran into something very solid yet completely invisible. Feeling his way around it, he found a door. Curiosity got the better of him and he stepped inside. Within minutes, that young man with a bright future ceased to exist.


	18. Chapter 18

**~oOo~**

The next morning Clara continued to feel that something was wrong. Around lunch time, she had driven by the empty fields where something could have come down three times. There was still nothing to be seen there. Taking a chance, she'd gone up to the little house and knocked on the door. After a minute, Brock, the waiter from the hamburger place that was Rose and Clara's favourite place to get chips, answered the door.

"Sorry to bother you," Clara began. "But did you hear or see anything suspicious last night?"

The young man tilted his head to one side and then the other, studying her. After a moment, he took in a deep breath through his nose. Something about him gave her the creeps. "I don't think so. But you are more than welcome to come in and take a look around." He stepped back to allow her inside.

With every fibre of her being, Clara knew that was a bad idea. "No thanks, I'll just be on my way." Turning on her heel, she practically sprinted back to her car, wanting to put as much distance between her and the boy as she could.

~oOo~

It was nearly eight o'clock when Rose finished putting on the finishing touches to her makeup. It had been a stress filled day. Something felt off, and she couldn't explain it. On the surface, everything had seemed normal.

She and John had spent the morning in bed, a rather frequent occurrence now. He'd finished reading her his novel. It was a beautiful story. In all honesty it was their story. A battered old solider who had lost everything in the war had met a young woman whose own life was stuck in a rut. Together they were happy. Her life was filled with new adventures, and she helped him heal. His life was so transformed by the girl that he practically became a new man.

That's where the problems started. The new man that he had become was lighter, happier and could more easily set aside past hurts and live in the moment. The girl was already his, and he no longer had to earn her love and, without meaning to, he took her for granted. Unable to face being shoved to the side while he showed others the affection that he used to bestow on her, she left.

In her absence, he once again spiralled into despair, hurting any and all people who tried to befriend him. As for her, while she missed him she was happy with her life. She made something of herself, and he was incredibly proud of her. Many years later they found each other again, and this time he fought for her. He won her back not with his words but with his actions, and they were happy. It wasn't always easy, but they were together.

Rose saw more of the Doctor in John every single day. But with every day that passed, despite her hopes that everything would be alright between them this time, she became more and more convinced that something would go far things had been smooth, and at times she forgot that he was hiding here from aliens that wanted to kill him. The meteorite in the sky last night had unnerved her. When she had gone downstairs in the middle of the night to check on the TARDIS, she had also snuck out and driven by the place that the meteorite was most likely to have come down. There was nothing there. She only wished that had made her feel better.

"You look beautiful," John professed, coming into the room and breaking her train of thought. She loved her dress. It was one that the TARDIS had provided her with. It was midnight blue with little sequins all over the top, a square neckline, and capped sleeves. The skirt flared at the waist so it looked like she was floating.

"Zip me up?" Rose asked as he reached her. His long fingers trailed up her skin as he slowly pulled up on the zipper. When he reached the top, he pressed his lips on the back of her neck.

"As much as I like undressing you, there's a certain brilliance in seeing you in something so gorgeous. Pity you're covering your legs again."

Turning around, she kissed him. "You look quite handsome yourself, and I told you, once we're someplace warm, I'll show off my legs more often."

A smug grin formed on his face. "I'm holding you to that." His fingers brushed against her necklace. The pendant shone like the night sky, and it was warm against his hand. "This is lovely."

"Thank you. It's one of my favourites." She reached up and grabbed his hand. "Shall we go?"

He tugged her gently towards the bed and away from the door. "We could ring in the New Year here instead of going to your work party. It would unquestionably be more fun."

She hadn't told him yet, but right after Christmas, she had turned in her resignation to her bosses. They had decided to bring in someone from the home office while they searched for her replacement. Then they had asked Rose to announce it tonight, at the company sponsored community New Year's Eve party. Shaking her head she tugged him towards the door. "Later, I promise," she purred.

With a filthy grin he replied, "Well then, allons-y, Rose Tyler. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave." He manoeuvred her out of the room and towards the stairs.

She had to laugh at his fuzzy logic. "I don't think that's how this works."

~oOo~

Clara had spent the rest of the day fretting over how Brock had acted earlier. It was unusual, and to be honest it freaked her out, but was it enough to arouse suspicions? There was a moment or two when she'd been ready to call Jack and then convince herself that she was overreacting. Had she not seen the meteorite last night would his behaviour have even raised an eyebrow? Probably not, so she would just wait until she had more proof before she alerted anyone.

For the first time in almost two years she was carrying her service weapon. If something was going on, she didn't want to be unprepared. She had been spending the entire afternoon going between various locations in town, the library, the diner, the coffee shop, amongst other places, watching to see if anyone was acting similarly weird. No one seemed the least bit strange. It was getting late, almost time for the party to start, time to go. Stepping out of the library she almost ran smack into Joan and George Redfern.

"Sorry," Clara said, quickly sidestepping them. According to Pinnacle's lawyer, neither she nor Rose was to have any contact with them. Joan was quick and came around her, blocking her path. Her father sniffed loudly from behind Clara. Joan did the same. It was the same thing that Brock had done this morning.

"Are you alright?" Clara asked without thinking.

"I don't think this is her, Father of Mine," Joan stated, ignoring Clara. "There is the slightest trace, but she isn't the one we are looking for." George grunted, and the pair stalked off down the street.

Ok, that was bizarre. When they were out of earshot, she pulled out her mobile and dialled Jack's number. His voicemail picked up on the third ring. "Jack, its Clara. I think we've got trouble. Call me."

~oOo~

Rose hadn't even have a moment to say hello to anyone before John had gathered her in his arms and pulled her out onto the dance floor. That had been over an hour ago. So far it had been a great night, and only the tiniest bit of apprehension over last night's events remained. "I'm thirsty," Rose declared over the din as they reached the edge of the crowd.

"I'll get us something to drink then." Leaning over, he kissed her cheek. "Be right back."

Rose smiled and watched as John walked away. Today was twelve weeks exactly since the Doctor had reappeared in her life and tipped it over on its head once more. It was almost time to open the watch. Three months is such a vague descriptor when it came to something as important as keeping him hidden. Was three months today? Or should she wait another week? What would she say to John to get him to open the watch?

"Rose," Clara said, pulling her from her thoughts. "We need to talk. It's really important."

Rose's brow furrowed. Clara looked upset. "What's wrong?"

"Do you remember the meteor shower last night? Green lights in the sky? Something alien arrived here, I'm sure of it." The young woman's eyes scanned the room.

The bottom dropped out of Rose's stomach. "How do you know?"

Clara stood up straight. "I know aliens." Her southern accent slipped away and was replaced with a London one. "I'm with UNIT."

Anger flared in Rose. "UNIT?" Why hadn't she seen this before? "You're a UNIT plant? Sent here to what? Spy on me?"

"Not you, Rose, but Pinnacle? Absolutely. Geniuses getting free reign to create potentially dangerous technology? Of course someone would be monitoring it, and don't you dare tell me that you weren't passing tips back to Jack at Torchwood to snap up the patents on the ones you felt shouldn't fall into the wrong hands."

"Touché," Rose conceded. "So back to these aliens, what do you know?"

Clara sighed. "Yesterday something came down outside of town. Now I'm convinced it was a spaceship, but I don't have any proof. I investigated, but they must have cloaked it somehow." Taking a deep breath, she continued. "I know about the… I know what you are protecting, who you are protecting, and I want to help."

Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw Joan Redfern draw nearer to them. "How do you know about that?"

Rolling her eyes, Clara responded in a hushed tone. "UNIT has a longstanding association with the Doctor, and your name has come up in several reports. But none of that matters right now because he's hiding here and he doesn't seem to know that he's the Doctor. Jack refuses to tell me anything, even though he demanded I keep an eye on you two. What is the Doctor hiding from?"

Rose was torn. Up until this point, she had completely trusted Clara, and Clara had been lying to her the entire time. For all Rose knew this could be a plot by the Family to trick her into bringing the Doctor back. "How can I trust you?"

"I wish I had time to prove to you that you can, but right now, that's not a luxury we can afford. Go with your gut, Rose," Clara replied. Nearby, Joan smiled manically and walked away.

"The Family of Blood," Rose said softly. She needed an ally, and despite how angry she was at Clara she was right now, she also knew implicitly she could trust Clara. "That's what he called them. I just know that they're like Mayflies: short life spans. He needed to hide for a few months."

Clara was about to ask another question when John walked up. "Clara!" he exclaimed. "Happy New Year. Are you enjoying the party?"

Clara nodded, and Rose took his hand. "Let's get out of here, John," she whispered in his ear. "Have our own party, yeah?"

Someone screamed, and there was the sound of a weapon discharging and a small explosion. Rose, John and Clara all turned in the direction of the disturbance. "WE WILL HAVE SILENCE," George Redfern boomed above the rest of the noise. Beside him were Brock and a woman that Rose recognized as Mrs Sterns, the Librarian. People fled out of the auditorium, trampling one another to escape the unknown.

"Dr Redfern," someone yelled. "What is going on here?"

George sniffed the air. "We are looking for the Time Lord. We are looking for the Doctor. Now where is he?"

"I think Rosie Posie is keeping his secret, Father-of-Mine," Joan giggled, not sounding at all like herself. "I overheard her and little miss prissy pants talking about the Doctor. They're hiding something, hiding him."

"Grab her, Son-of-Mine," George ordered Brock. The young man strode purposely across the large room towards Rose. John tried to block her, but Rose gently pushed him out of the way. The man who had spoken earlier charged forward towards Brock. With a laugh, the young man pulled out some sort of weapon and fired. Rose winced. That man had died for no good reason and she had to stop it. Thankfully the room had mostly cleared by now, less chance of any more innocents getting in the way.

"John, I need you to run. Get out of here, and I'll meet you back at my house when I can," Rose told him firmly, keeping her eyes fixed on Brock.

"I'm not leaving you." His voice trembled slightly. Reaching forward, he took her hand and squeezed it. Rose turned quickly and gave him a small smile before dropping his hand and walking towards the intruders. She was several feet away from John before he jumped after her, but Clara caught his arm.

"I can't let them get a hold of you," Clara hissed. "I won't let anything happen to her. I swear to you. Now go." This time he was shoved in direction of the door, and he stumbled just as Brock grabbed his Rose. John cried out as Rose was dragged back to where Dr Redfern, Joan and the librarian were standing.

George leered at Rose, taking long sniffs of the air around her. "Well, well, well, what have we got here?"

"She reeks of time, Husband-of-Mine," Mrs Sterns crooned. "Maybe we can use her along with the Doctor. She seems like she would be a tasty snack."

Why were they talking about the Doctor as if he was real? He was just a character in John's journal, a figment of his imagination. John was real, Rose was real, and the Doctor was not.

Rose chuckled dryly. "I won't let that happen. You'll never lay a hand on the Doctor or on me. I'll give you one chance. Give up, let me arrange for you to live out your lives in peace, or I'll take you down."

"Empty threats will do you no good. Especially when I've already got you exactly where I want you," Brock growled. "And soon we will feast on you."

"Patience, Son-of-Mine," George warned. "This is all so you can live forever. Now you, Rose, tell me where the Doctor is, or we will kill you and this whole town will burn."

John watched as Clara snuck around behind the group. His stomach was twisting in knots. How were Clara and Rose remaining so calm?

Holding her head high, Rose stared down this Father-of Mine. "Not taking me up on my offer to surrender, then?" she asked, not trying to pull away.

"Hardly," the man scoffed and jammed another gun into her ribs. "Now tell me where the Doctor is."

Rose shifted. "First tell me what happened to George Redfern, his daughter, Brock and Mrs Sterns. Are they still in there, or have you killed them?"

"Consumed, more like," the one using Joan' body said with a smirk. "Oh, how this one screamed, the pitiful creature. I do have access to her surface memories, and oh, how she hated you. Somehow that's going to make this all the more fun."

"That's what you think," Rose said before stomping on the foot of the alien in Brock's body and knocking away his weapon. Then she shoved Father-of -Mine into the woman calling herself his wife, knocking them both down.

"Oh, no you don't," Joan yelled, pulling out her own weapon and aiming at Rose. "I'm going to enjoy this."


	19. Chapter 19

**~oOo~**

Before Joan could fire, a flash of light erupted and Joan's body crumpled to the ground. Gun in hand, Clara crossed the room. In quick succession she fired three more shots, hitting each Family member in turn.

"You killed them," Rose declared, feeling an odd mingling of relief and disgust. "And where did you get that?"

Clara shook her head. "UNIT issue, set to stun, more or less. They're just knocked out, which is more than I can say for the poor people that they used for their bodies."

Stumbling, John made his way back over to Rose. "What the bloody hell is going on here? They killed him, the police officer who arrested me. He was trying to help, and they just killed him. And the Doctor, they said they were looking for the Doctor."

Rose grabbed his hands and squeezed. "Calm down, love. I promise I'll explain everything. We just need to get out of here." She turned to Clara. "Keep an eye on them and don't let local police take them away. They could still cause a lot of damage if they wake up any time soon and local authorities wouldn't know how to handle it."

"No problem, just hurry back." Clara nodded, not taking her eyes off the four bodies in front of her. "I'm sure UNIT is dispatching a team as we speak, and if we want to clean this up without their interference, we're gonna need the Doctor."

"You'd rather not have your guys handle clean up?" Rose asked, a little skeptical.

"The less alien tech that's available on the planet the better, in my opinion. Just bring back the Doctor so the three of us can get this sorted," Clara replied before holstering her weapon and turning to Rose. The two women shared a meaningful look before Rose turned back to John.

"Come on; we've got a lot to talk about." Tugging on John's hand, Rose pulled him from the ballroom and out to his Range Rover. Numbly he handed over the keys when she asked for them. His mind raced to try and make sense of what was happening while she paid no mind to speed limits or stop signs on the short trip back to her house.

He had so many questions. How could she stand there earlier and talk of the Doctor as if he were a real person? Someone that she simply needed to fetch? Why did she seem to know exactly what was going on? What about Clara? How did she know about the Doctor? Why, when she had talked with a Southern accent since they'd met, did she suddenly sound British? How much of this town, of his life here, was a lie?

"Clara's accent?" he finally asked as he followed her up the stairs to her room, the room they had shared for the last few weeks. He hadn't even registered that they'd made it to the house until this moment.

"Apparently, she is a member of UNIT, the Unified Intelligence Taskforce," Rose explained. "My friend, our friend Martha worked with them for a while before starting a family and going freelance. UNIT helps defend the Earth from alien threats. They're good people for the most part."

He scoffed. "You sound mad, completely certifiable."

"Yeah, well, I've spent the last twelve years of my life sounding mad. At least I do when I actually do talk about my past." She took a painting off the wall, revealing what looked to be a safe. It opened after she pressed her palm against the door. "I spent over a year travelling across time and space with an alien with two hearts. A man who could change his face. And I can't talk about it without sounding like a complete nutter."

"I don't understand what you're talking about," John said, shaking his head. This was Rose; why was she saying things like this? Acting like everything that had happened in the last hour had been normal?

She'd pulled a pocket watch out of the safe and cradled it protectively in one of her hand. "I think you know exactly what I'm talking about, Doctor."

His knees buckled, and he only barely managed to stay standing. "The Doctor's not real. He can't be."

"John," she said softly. "He is real. You're him and he's you. All those things in your dreams, they're real. All the places, they're real. Those adventures that we have together are real."

"It can't be," he whispered even though he sensed the sincerity of her words. It was almost as if he could feel his world crumbling around him. "How can it be true? I'm human. What, did you bribe the doctors in the hospital to ignore the second heart?"

Rose reached out and took his hand. "The Family, the aliens that attacked the party tonight, they were hunting the Doctor. Hoping to use him to live forever. They have short lifespans, see. So the Doctor hid himself here as a human. Inside this watch he hid the Time Lord part of himself and the rest of your memories. Three months and then it would be time to open the watch."

His eyes went wide in realization. "It's been almost three months since we met." Blind panic overtook him, and he jumped away from Rose. "But that's not true, is it? We've met before, haven't we?"

"Yes, I was nineteen, and you blew up my job." A wistful smile graced her face while she spoke. "You had a different face back then. In your dreams, he was the one in the leather jacket."

Images floated through his mind. _A man in a leather jacket dancing with Rose. The same man running hand in hand with Rose and collapsing with laughter when they reached a blue box._ _The memories shifted, this time of Rose laughing with the Doctor with John's face. Then Rose was crying. She always tried not to let him see her cry. Walking away, leaving him. He'd pushed her away_.

No, he wouldn't become that man just to lose Rose.

"I don't want to be the Doctor; you left him," John cried, grabbing fistfuls of his hair. He could feel his panic rising when another realization hit him. "He's the one who hurt you. The one you loved, but you didn't think loved you back. How can you ask me to become him? Why did you agree to this in the first place?"

Rose laughed mirthlessly. "Agree? I didn't have much choice, did I? Yes, I left the Doctor. Not because I didn't love him, but because he made me feel like I didn't matter." Pausing, she took a deep breath. "Like I was expendable." Her jaw clenched, and she looked away for a moment.

"Ten years, that's how long it's been since I left, for me at least. And he never forgot about me, even though he never came to see me. He even visited my mum... My mum! So that he could make sure that I was alright," Rose laughed and then her face turned serious. "I never had a choice in any of this, John. The TARDIS dropped you off here with instructions to keep you safe and open the watch in three months. I'm so sorry."

"And you just expect me to die?" A hard lump settled in the pit of his stomach. Had any of this been real? Had she cared for him at all, or was this all just an act?

"No," Rose said firmly. "Listen to me. Listen very carefully. When you open the watch you won't die. You won't just be gone, the same way that the Doctor isn't really gone right now." Slowly she walked over to him and took his hand again. "John Smith and the consciousness in the watch are two parts of the same man. You, John Smith, are the Doctor, and he's you. When you open the watch you'll simply be made whole again. And _when_ you open that watch my feelings for you won't have changed."

She seemed so sure. Maybe she was right. Maybe Rose was right. Maybe he wouldn't really disappear. Only for her, he thought as his hand sought the watch in hers. The moment he touched the metal his mind was flooded with images.

_He was down on one knee, at their favourite spot overlooking a valley below. The word yes was out of her mouth before he could pull out the ring._

_Walking down the aisle in that white dress, accompanied by her mother, she had never looked more beautiful. When her hand slid into his, he knew that the promise of forever they were making today was one he would never break._

_They were dancing around the kitchen. His hand rested on the gentle swell of her abdomen, identical grins plastered on their faces._

_"Say hello to your son," Rose said, handing over a small, wriggling bundle. Impossibly, his heart swelled with more love than he had ever thought possible. What had he done to deserve this woman and the beautiful family she was giving him?_

_Year after year he aged, laugh lines turned into deep set wrinkles. The hair at his temples turned grey, and his joints began to ache. Yet his Rose stayed young and beautiful. She begged him to open the watch, to stay with her and stubbornly, he refused._

_He lay on his deathbed, so many years later. Rose steadfastly sat by his side. These days she looked more like his granddaughter than his wife, always so beautiful. Holding his hand as he slowly peacefully drifted off to sleep one last time._

"No," Rose cried, wrenching him from the visions of the future. "I'd never let you just die like that. Not when you don't have to." Her hands squeezed the watch tighter, and this time visions of a different future appeared.

_Wearing a pinstriped suit, he was running for his life. Rose was by his side, laughing. "I missed this," she told him as they reach their ship. "Me too, traveling with you, I missed it so much," he agreed before pulling her into a kiss._

_It was a little unconventional, the way their daughter was brought into existence. His hand was covered in Rose's DNA. So it was no wonder that when his tissue was used in the progenation machine their genetic material was mingled and that the girl born from it looked so much like his Rose. Somehow, when it shouldn't have been remotely possible, they had been given a family._

_Together, the three of them ran across time and space. Saving planets, overcoming tyrants and doing what needed to be done. Occasionally they stopped to visit friends, and occasionally they took a new friend with them. It wasn't the life he'd expected when he'd run away from Gallifrey, but it was one that he desperately loved._

_Rose was by his side when his face changed again. And again. She lived through his eleventh and twelfth selves still looking almost as young and even more beautiful as the day that he met her. With each passing year, he loved her more. This was more than he could have ever asked for, having Rose Tyler by his side forever._

He was once again pulled from his visions when Rose dropped his hand. "All of time and space, together, if you want," Rose murmured.

This was almost too much. He liked his life here, his life with Rose. But there was the something about living the life as the Doctor with her by his side that was calling to him. "I don't want to lose you," he breathed, pulling her into his arms.

"You won't, not if you still want me." She nuzzled into his neck. "We'll have things to work out, but I don't plan on going anywhere unless it's with you."

"I love you," he said, wanting her to know one last time that his feelings were real.

"I love you too. Both as John and as the Doctor," she assured him. "Now please trust me and open the watch."

His lips met hers, and he kissed her softly. It may not truly be goodbye. However, it was the end of this chapter of his life, and a part of him didn't want to go.

There was a soft click, and the room filled with a warm, golden glow. Rose made to pull away, and he held her tighter. His kiss moved from languid to one of desperation. The watch fell to the ground as the Doctor threaded his fingers into Rose's hair.


	20. Chapter 20

**~oOo~**

The memories he'd made as John Smith were momentarily pushed from the forefront of his mind as nearly a thousand years of memories poured into his head at once. Pain seared his chest as the physiological changes began to take place. He tried to double over in pain, but there was something in front of him. Something, someone warm, soft and kissing him. Rose. Rose was here in his arms. She was real, inexplicably real. He shifted his awareness away from the agony he was going through and instead focused on her. His were lips on hers, needy, hungry, his tongue sliding along hers. His hands roamed her curves, and he felt her fingernails scratch his scalp. How many times had he thought about this, dreamed about it?

Recent memories overwhelmed the Doctor: Rose and the man in his body, John Smith, sleeping in her bed, kissing under the stars, making love in front of the fireplace. All things that he wanted and welcomed both as John and as the Doctor. Her words from just before the watch opened. _Love you as the Doctor, If you want, Not if you still want me_ and for the first time in nearly twenty years, for the first time since she had left, he felt hope.

When the pain finally eased, he pulled back so he could look at her properly. His eyes locked with hers, searching to see if they still held the assurances they had mere minutes before. They did. "Rose," he breathed and pulled her close once more.

"Hello, Doctor," she whispered. "Welcome back."

His arms tightened around her. "I missed you."

"Missed you, too." She pulled away a bit but didn't leave his arms. "How much do you remember of the last few months?"

He paused. This was the moment where he had a decision to make, lie to her and to himself or tell her the truth. During his time as John Smith, Rose had been as honest with him as she could. She told him about her past relationships, told him how much he'd hurt her. She had told him that it was his choice, all of time and space, with her, if that's what he wanted. And oh, how he wanted.

"Everything," he murmured, his fingers now stroking the bare skin of her back.

"You remember what I said about there not being any difference in my mind about this you and that you?" Her eyes held questions that before she had left him he wouldn't have been able to answer. Now, after having been without her and then finding her again, having her grant him forgiveness, all he wanted was to make things right with her. The Doctor loved Rose, and her leaving had hurt him deeply. More than anything, he wished he could love her as openly as he had as John. He wanted to, that was certain, but could he?

"I do," he finally affirmed.

"One step forward not two steps back, yeah?" There was so much loaded into her question that it should have scared him, but it didn't.

"Yes," he answered immediately.

Rose quickly kissed him and then turned around. Before he could truly register that Rose Tyler had just casually kissed him, she was talking again. "Unzip me? Please," she asked over her shoulder.

Immediately, his mind went to when he had undressed her last night, in this very room. She couldn't possibly mean… Could she? Right here, right now. Not that he didn't want to, because he did. But the timing didn't seem to be right, not with everything going on. He tugged at his ear. "You want to do… that now?" His voice was slightly shaky even as he felt his desire for her grow.

"Not that." Rose rolled her eyes, and he knew she could see the disappointment that he felt. "At least not right now. Later maybe, if you're up for it. It's just, I can't help you dispose of the Family and their ship in an evening gown."

Her mention of the Family brought him back to the reality of their situation. They had tried to hurt Rose, believed that she could extend their lives. They would have consumed her too. "Right," he said in a clipped tone; time to get down to business.

Maybe not. The pendant on the hollow of her throat caught his attention. He had given her that. "You kept the necklace," he said as he unzipped her. "I wasn't sure that you would." He tried, unsuccessfully, not to notice that she didn't try and hide herself from him as the dress fell to the floor.

Her fingers automatically flew to the pendant. "I did, and I kept the note too. Thank you." Leaning up she kissed his cheek and then went to gather her clothes.

"You're welcome." His eyes traced her curves as she pulled on a pair of jeans, boots and a jumper. In the course of three minutes she was changed, and he would be lying if he said that he wasn't disappointed that she was now fully dressed.

"Ready?" she asked, holding out her hand to him.

He was ready to reply in the affirmative when he remembered. "Key… the TARDIS key." He patted his same size on the inside pockets, knowing that it wouldn't be in there but not knowing where else to look.

Rose grinned and walked over the jewellery box on her bureau. "Seriously, Doctor, how did you survive without me for ten years?"

"It wasn't just ten years, not for me" he replied, pain evident in his voice even though he'd tried to hide it. "It was over two decades. I've spent the last twenty years without you, and sometimes I don't know how I survived. Drove Martha away, didn't travel with anyone else really. Except for Donna and she yelled the whole time because she thought I was trying to ruin her wedding. I was miserable without you by my side."

"Doctor, I'm sorry." Her voice softened. "I'm here now, and I'm not planning on leaving you again."

"Until the next time I take you for granted." He turned his head, not able to look at her.

"Well, there's a simple solution for that." Rose took his hand in hers and led them from the bedroom. "Don't take me for granted anymore."

If only it were that simple. "I'll try," he promised softly.

There was the slightest hint of her tongue poking out of her mouth as she grinned. "Good. Come on."

He held tightly to her hand as they made their way down to the basement. The sight of his TARDIS was comforting and the touch of her against his mind was a relief. Once inside, Rose ran the fingers of her free hand along the coral strut near the door as she let the Doctor take the lead now.

"So, do you think that you can land us back at the party on time, or are you going to be a little late this time? Hopefully not another ten years late." She was teasing, he knew that, but he also knew that his bad driving had caused both of them a lot of pain. Not to mention what his Ninth self had done to Jackie and Mickey by bringing her home a year late.

The Doctor focused on setting the coordinates, not able meet her eyes. "After you… rightfully left, I was devastated and floated in the Vortex for a while, and I figured I'd give you a few days berth and then come back and see if I could do damage control. But I got it wrong, and I was too late. Seven year too late. You were already…."

"I was already seeing Liam," Rose finished. "Let me wrap my head around this. I just need to get it straight. Right after I left you, you accidentally jumped seven years into my future, and then you kept coming back into Mum's timeline, and sending me flowers but not interfering because either you knew my future, or I was with someone else. And you've spent twenty years, linear time for you, alone while it's only been ten years, relatively, for me."

"Yes," he whispered.

"I'm so sorry." That small initial mistake had cost them both so much. And yet she wasn't sure that she would have changed it if she could. Despite missing him, too many wonderful things had happened to her in that time. "While we're in telling truths, I missed you so much. I still don't think I was wrong for leaving, but I forgave you years back."

Tugging him closer, she moved a hand to his cheek, forcing him to look at her. "I waited five years before I moved on. Before I realized that you weren't coming back."

"I missed you, and I always wanted to see you again," he confessed. Gently she stroked his cheekbone with his thumb. Her words forced him to relax. "I wasted so much time, something I would like to rectify very soon." Leaning down, he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I was never not going to open the watch." She shook her head slightly. "I loved the time we had together when you were John, but I always wanted the Doctor to fully come back."

This time he initiated the kiss. His lips brushed hers, and he ached to deepen it, to just stay here for the rest of eternity. Nonetheless they had things to deal with before that could happen, and it would happen. Reluctantly he pulled back and for the first time since the watch had been opened, he smiled. "Let's go take care of the bad guys."

"You really know what to say to a girl, don't you?" Rose gave him a sly grin. "I really missed this part."

"How did you survive ten years without the adventure?" One corner of his mouth twitched. "Guess I'm not the only one who has lost time to make up for. Just don't go back to your jeopardy friendly ways."

Rose snorted. "You have no reason to talk. Let's recap the last twelve weeks, shall we? You, Mr Smith…" He wrinkled his nose when she called him Smith. He really hoped it didn't become a thing that she did. "You, had a woman threatening to press harassment charges against you, ended up in the hospital, got in a fistfight and spent the night in jail. Now who's the jeopardy friendly one?"

"Well, if you hadn't been all flirty with Liam, three of those things wouldn't have happened." He moved around the console flipping several switches.

"You're blaming this on me?" Rose rolled her eyes.

"No," he affirmed. "That was all me being an arrogant twat. And what happened with Joan was hardly my fault."

"I know. Joan is a self-serving man eater just looking for a meal ticket." Rose's face fell. "Was, Joan was all of those things, but she was still a person who had people that cared about her, and the Family killed her."

The Doctor thought of the people that the Family had consumed, and it enraged him. George and Joan weren't the nicest of people, but they didn't deserve to be murdered. Brock was just a kid, with so much potential that now would never be realized. Mrs Sterns, the librarian, had a husband, children and grandchildren that would now have to live on without her, and Officer Montgomery was just doing his job. Now he was nothing but atoms. Their deaths were on him.

"Doctor, this isn't your fault," Rose maintained. "You didn't kill them."

"If I hadn't come here…" Those people wouldn't have died, but he wouldn't have reconnected with Rose. He hated himself more for thinking that maybe this was all worth it if he got her back. "Right, time to deal with them. Allons-y." He went to flip the switch to start the dematerialization process when Rose's hand stopped him.

"What are you planning to do to them?" Her voice was hard. Almost as if she knew that his plans for the Family's fate would not be pleasant. She was right.

"They wanted to live forever. Now I'll make it so that they can." He wouldn't look at her. He couldn't. "And they will find that it's a lonely existence."

"No."

"What?" This time he turned towards her, still not quite meeting her eyes. "What did you say?"

"I said no." Her tone softened, and she laid a hand on her arm. "Living a long time doesn't have to be lonely. Not for you, not anymore."

Images of the visions of a human life with Rose flashed through his mind. In them he had aged, but she had not. "What do you mean?"

"Jack for one thing, he's well over a hundred years old now," she explained, and he barely suppressed the shudder when he thought back to how wrong Jack felt to him the Game Station. Her grip on his arm tightened before she continued. "Then there's me."

His jaw clenched while he waited for her to continue. This time it was Rose who broke contact. Biting her lip, she walked over to the jump seat and sat down. "I don't know how it happened, but I think it has to do with my time as Bad Wolf. I'm sure you've noticed that I'm barely aging. For years I didn't even think about it, or notice it really. Then there was an accident, just a broken bone, but it healed way too quick. Martha ran all the tests that she could. She didn't find the cause, didn't find much of anything at all. Except that my rate of cellular decay had almost stopped."

A million questions ran through his mind in that moment, and the only thing that mattered was that he had the possibility of spending a very long time with the beautiful, amazing woman in front of him. He took a step towards her. "Oh, Rose…"

"I promise I'm not choosing to be with you because of the aging thing," she interrupted. "And you can run any test that you want as soon as we deal with the Family." Standing, she came over and took his hand. The calming effect it had was immediate. "You said they were like mayflies, yeah?"

He nodded. "I did. What are you thinking, Rose Tyler?"

"Short life span. Can we take them somewhere? Away from anyone that they could hurt, and they could just live out the rest of their lives."

That was such a Rose thing to say. It was nice to see that some things didn't change. "Agreed, but if they try and harm you again, all bets are off."

"Deal," agreed Rose. "Now let's go get Clara before they wake up."

Unenthusiastically, he extricated himself from Rose and started the dematerialization sequence. "Time machine, love. I can get us there ten seconds after we left." Out of the corner of his eye, he caught her small smile when he let the term of endearment slip. It was one that he had used often when he was John. He still liked the way it sounded when he said it. Not that he planned on saying it often, at least not in front of other people. There was a soft thud as the ship landed. Rose was halfway out the door before the Doctor caught up to her.

"Clara," Rose called, running across the room to her friend. For a moment the brunette stiffened before she recognized the pair.

"Blimey, that was fast," Clara replied, looking slightly relieved. "You two have only been gone five minutes."

"Told you I could do it," the Doctor chided Rose and then turned to Clara. "Hello, I'm the Doctor by the way. You're a tricky one, pulling double duty for UNIT. A very good friend of mine worked there, several of them in fact. Anyway, why don't we move these four into the TARDIS? I have the perfect place in mind for them."

Clara stuck her heads through the open door. "It's just like the reports said, bigger on the inside than the outside."

"And she's beautiful. Isn't she?" Rose said softly, coming up behind her. The TARDIS hummed appreciatively, and the time rotor thrummed, just once.

"What was that?" Clara asked in surprise.

Grinning, Rose explained, "She's alive, and she's just expressing her gratitude at the compliment. Aren't you, girl?" The ship hummed again. "I can feel her in my head."

"Alright, ladies, let's stop gabbing and get this over with," the Doctor interjected. Leaning over to Rose he whispered, "We'll talk about that feeling her in your head thing later."

Catching her tongue between her teeth, Rose grinned. "Amongst other things, I'm sure."

Together the Doctor, Rose and Clara managed to lug the four alien-inhabited bodies into the TARDIS. The Doctor dragging two of them easily, Rose was surprised that he didn't taut his superior biology. "Clara, keep an eye on them," he instructed. "If they so much as twitch a muscle you let me know. Alright?"

"Alright," Clara agreed, moving her hand to her sidearm.

"No guns," the Doctor shouted as he programmed in the coordinates.

Clara rolled her eyes. "Saved our arses earlier."

Under his breath, the Doctor mumbled something that even Rose who was standing right next to him couldn't hear. However, she'd bet 10 quid that it was something rude. "Be nice," she warned. "Clara saved my life earlier."

He paused and moved to cup her cheek. "And for that, I am eternally grateful."

Turning her head, she kissed his palm before he went back to the controls. It was only a few minutes before they landed with a thud. Both the Doctor and Rose were able to keep their feet under them. Clara, however, had to grab a nearby strut for support and still nearly fell over.

"Where are we?" Clara asked after the Doctor pushed the door open.

"When are we?" Rose smirked. "God, I missed saying that."

Stepping outside, the Doctor spread his arms wide. "Welcome to Stalnic in the year 75,052. In about six weeks the sun is going to go supernova. All sentient life has already been evacuated. No one left for the family to inhabit. They can live out the rest of their short lives here, together. Never hurting anyone ever again."

Again the three of them quickly moved the four family members. They were laid out side by side on the ground. When they had finished, the Doctor took Rose's hand and led them back inside the TARDIS. Clara followed after.

"We're just going to leave them there?" Clara asked, bewildered.

"Yes," the Doctor replied curtly.

Clara was about to argue, but Rose stopped her. "It's the most humane thing to do. They only have a short time left, and we can't do anything to bring back those people they…killed." She swallowed hard on the last word. "If we killed them, we would be no better than they are. Now they die in peace at the end of their natural lives."

The familiar vworping sound of the Time Rotor filled the air as they made their way back to Earth. There was still work to be done.


	21. Chapter 21

**~oOo~**

The mood in the room was sombre as they travelled back to Colorado. Instead of landing in the basement, the Doctor landed in the main room, right next to the Christmas tree. "What now?" Clara asked as Rose and the Doctor stepped into the house behind her.

"Now," the Doctor started, "Rose and I go and decommission the Family's ship, while you," he pointed at Clara, "you are going to get on your phone and call your superiors and tell them that they are going to have a massive clean-up on their hands."

"What do you mean decommission?" Clara asked. "Are you going to blow it up?"

The Doctor chortled. "Nah, we're simply going to turn it into scrap metal." He turned to Rose. "Keys?"

"In the bowl by the door, where I always keep them," Rose smirked. "How are we going to find the landing site? I snuck out last night and didn't see anything."

"I will use my powers of observation and calculate all the variables to find the optimum place for them to have landed their ship." He preened. "I'll find it in no time."

Rose looked sceptical. "Really?"

"Really, really."

"Are you sure that the TARDIS didn't tell you?" she probed.

For a moment his face fell before he smiled again. "Come on, Rose Tyler. We can talk about the way you and my ship are conspiring against me and how that is even possible."

Rose rolled her eyes as they made their way out the door. Having grabbed the keys, the Doctor started for the driver's side before stopping himself and going over to open the passenger door. When he finally slid into the driver's seat, Rose decided to tease him. "Glad to see that you're keeping this part of your personality at the forefront. A little chivalry never hurts when you're courting a lady."

"Is that what we're doing? Courting?" the Doctor enquired earnestly.

Something in her stomach twisted. Hadn't he said that they were going to move forward from here? Maybe she had misunderstood. It wouldn't be unlike him to do a 180 now. This was the first time she'd had the slightest bit of doubt since he'd opened the watch. Schooling her face into a look that she hoped looked indifferent, she shrugged. "That's up to you I guess. You know how I feel. I think I've made that perfectly clear over the last few weeks. Where we go from here, that's your choice and if there is one thing I have learned over the past ten years, it's that I can handle pretty much anything life throws at me."

He took her hand and squeezed it. "I'm not backpedalling. I was simply inquiring if you wanted me to woo you for a respectable period of time before we resume…" He squirmed in his seat. "Our nocturnal activities. I'm just tired of wasting time, and I wanted to make sure that we have the some expectations on the outcome."

Rose burst into a fit of giggles as relief flowed through her. "Let's just take things as they come, alright?"

"I'd love to take you as you come," the Doctor growled. The tension in the vehicle shifted to something that made Rose squirm, although it was out of anticipation not uneasiness. The implications of his words made her want to finish this mission and make it back to her bedroom or maybe the TARDIS. Or both.

A thought struck her. "Why didn't we take the TARDIS? Might have made the trip a bit quicker."

"Quicker, yes, but it wouldn't have given us time for this delightful chat." He squeezed her hand. "We've been garrulous tonight, haven't we?"

She squeezed back. "Making up for lost time, I suppose. Cramming a decade's worth of conversation into what, an hour? There was only so much that I could tell you when you were John. But we don't have to resolve everything tonight. We have plenty of time to work through everything."

"So you meant it? That you want to come with me. Travel together again?" There was the slightest hitch in his voice. At least she wasn't the only one having moments of nervousness.

"Of course I meant it," Rose sighed. "On one condition."

He swallowed hard and tensed, as if he was preparing for the worst. "What condition?"

Shifting a little, she studied his profile. "I still need visits home and not just to see Mum. I'll want to come back and visit Jack, Mickey and Martha, their kids and of course Sophie." She paused for a moment. "The last one is non-negotiable. All of them are really, but I won't have you using my previous relationship with Liam as an excuse to not visit Sophie. After all she's been through in her life, I refuse to abandon her."

His jaw tensed, and she could almost hear the thoughts rushing through his mind. This wasn't something that she intended to give in on. If he couldn't live with her choice to want to visit the people that meant the most to her then he would just have to leave without her.

"I don't think that's too much to ask," he said after a long moment. "Your family is important to you. I know that, always have. And as always, your wish is my command."

"Good, that's good." She let out the breath that she'd been holding. "There is something that I haven't told you yet, because I wasn't sure that you'd fully understand as John. I've been making arrangements."

"What kind of arrangements?" he asked urgently.

"I turned in my resignation at work, called Mum and let her know that I'd be traveling with you again soon. She says hi by the way. Oh, and I may have told her that you sort of had amnesia." She purposely glossed over his visits to her mum. That was a conversation for another day. "I've also contacted a moving company. They're coming in two weeks to pack and move my stuff to storage. Jack's been kind enough to offer me storage space at Torchwood."

He pulled the car to a stop outside the field where the Family's ship had landed. "Just like that? After all this time?" He turned to look her full in the face. "You had no idea that I'd even ask you to come, and you are just giving up the amazing life that you've built for yourself?"

"Yes," she answered immediately. "Besides, I knew you'd asked me. You and John are two sides to the same coin. If he wanted me to go with him, then you would too." She grinned at him, let go of his hand and opened the door. "Come on, we've got work to do."

Quickly he caught her up and led her to the cloaked ship. From his pocket, he produced his sonic screwdriver and scanned the area. "Where did you get that?" she asked, not remembering giving it back to him.

The alien ship blinked into existence. "You're not the only one who can commune with my ship." A door hissed open and he pulled her inside. "The Old Girl let me know where it was stowed away for safe keeping, and I grabbed it."

"I have no idea how I do that by the way, communicate with the TARDIS." She took a minute to study the equipment in the ship so she didn't have to look at him. "If I had to guess, I'd say that it has to do with Bad Wolf. Like the aging thing. I mean, after the Game Station I could feel her presence more in my head much more than I could before. And even after I left, I think she was still translating languages for me. The connection was dimmed but it was still there. It really helped with development of my translator. She inspired it really."

"But you developed it," he interrupted, unadulterated pride filling his voice. "It's incredibly innovative, and you, my dear Rose, are nothing short of astonishing."

Finally, she turned to look at him, her cheeks flushed. "Thank you," she replied sincerely before finishing her thoughts. "Anyway, when she landed you in my basement, the connection came back almost instantly. And it sort of grew. I could hear her whenever I was in the house, not just when I went to check on her. Just another thing we'll have to figure out, I guess."

"And we've got _all the time in the world,_ together, to figure it out." Reaching over, he cupped her face.

"Yes, we do," she agreed.

He pressed a quick kiss on her lips and promised that more would come later, after they had made the technology on this ship essentially useless. It was nice to know that they could easily work together after all this time. The only difference was that now Rose was far more capable of keeping up with the Doctor's technobabble. Together they made quick work of deleting the memory banks of all information. Then they created a rather large fire overloading what was left so all technology that could have been harvested was reduced to useless pools of melted metal. Thankfully, the sealed door contained the heat and none of the surrounding area would be damaged.

When they were finished they made their way back to SUV and navigated the icy streets back to Rose's house. Glancing at the clock, Rose noted that it was just after midnight. "Happy New Year," she whispered.

"Happy New Year," the Doctor returned. "I'm sorry that the party didn't go as planned and that I didn't get to kiss you at midnight."

"Yeah, it's too bad we don't have a time machine or we could just go to another New Year's Eve party tomorrow," teased Rose.

"Pity that," he replied. "Or a spaceship so I can take you to a Year's End festival on Kunori. They have great nibbles and the mead isn't too bad either."

"I could do with a holiday after having to babysit you for the last three months. Someplace warm so I can show off more of my legs when I'm wearing heels."

"That sounds like a marvellous plan." He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.

They made light conversation the rest of the ride relatively short ride home. Mostly they discussed places that they could visit.

"You know I think," the Doctor said as they walked up Rose's front steps, "that maybe you should keep this house."

Rose looked at him sceptically. "Really?"

"Course, why wouldn't you?" He pulled her into his arms. "This place has it all. Beautiful views, great running trails, nice quite place to spend a bit of down time wrapped in the arms of the man you love."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yes," he agreed, pushing her back against the door. In one swift movement his lips met hers, gently at first, then building in intensity. Her fingers tangled in his hair as he nipped at her bottom lip. She moaned when he moved on to her neck, sucking at her pulse point. Just as his hands worked their way under her jacket the door opened behind them.

"We're in the midst of an alien invasion, and you two are necking on the porch?" Clara bellowed. "What is wrong with you two?" She threw her hands in the air. "You know what? I don't have any idea why I thought you two would stop the public groping just because some watch was opened." Stalking back into the house, Clara didn't see the other two sneak a quick kiss before following her.

"I've talked to my superiors at UNIT," Clara told them. "They are sending a team to clean up and, um… Jack and his Torchwood team are on the way as well. They'll probably be here first actually. Sorry."

"You called Jack," Rose asked curtly. The implications of what Clara had just said and what Rose had learned about the other woman today were finally starting to hit her. "How do you know Jack? Do I even know one real thing about you?"

Clara sighed and sunk down onto the sofa. "I'm sorry for not telling you the whole truth. I know Jack because he reached out to me before you moved here. He asked me to keep an eye on you, make sure that you were adjusting. Things that one friend does when they are worried about another. Because of my orders to not break my cover I couldn't tell you that I knew him.

"After _John_ arrived he asked me to report anything suspicious. Ordered is actually a bit more accurate. He called my superior officer and forced my cooperation. I only called him after a strange run in with Dr Redfern and Joan. And I may have deceived you about my history, Rose, but the person I am, your friend, that wasn't an act. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you straight off. I should have broken protocol and let you know who I was. I really am sorry, and I hope that we can still be friends."

Plunking down beside her, Rose wrapped an arm around Clara's shoulder. "I wasn't exactly honest with you either, and now you know my biggest secret." Rose nodded in the direction of the TARDIS. "Telling people I'm a former time traveller tends not to go over well."

"Not so former anymore," the Doctor interjected with a smug grin.

Rose rolled her eyes and ignored him. "No more secrets, alright?"

"Agreed," Clara replied, hugging her friend.

After a few moments the Doctor cleared his throat. "This is usually our cue to leave. Are you ready, Rose?"

Breaking away from the hug, Rose shook her head. "I still have a few things I need to pack. Give me a mo." With a last squeeze to Clara's arm, Rose stood. "And you two play nice while I'm upstairs."

The Doctor snorted, and Clara laughed. It was a little sad, Rose thought, to be climbing these stairs for what might the last time. This place had been her home, and like the Doctor, she was going to miss it. Even though the Doctor had suggested that they keep it, she wasn't sure that she really wanted to. People here had died, and she didn't want her presence to remind people of that. So much had changed for the people of Silver Springs today.

Everything in her room looked normal, aside from her heels and dress from the party being thrown haphazardly on the floor. She pulled a large suitcase and her favourite handbag out of the closest and laid them on the bed. For the past week she'd been making mental notes as to what to take with her. The TARDIS had a huge wardrobe that she could take advantage of so clothes weren't a huge priority; neither were toiletries. Besides she had already taken some of her favourite things and stashed them in her room on the TARDIS. All of her photos had been scanned and added to a digital picture frame that the ship had provided. There wasn't all that much left here that she wanted to take.

Her mobile rang as she was grabbing her intimate apparel out of her bureau. She followed the ringing and found it on John's nightstand. "Hullo," she chirped, not even bothering to read the caller ID.

 _"Rosie, what have you been up to tonight?"_ Jack's voice came from the other end of the line.

Rose grinned. "Not much really: just stopping the Family, destroying their ship, terrifying a town. I had John open the watch, so the Doctor is now fully back to himself. Oh, and your little covert operative exposed herself."

 _"Ah, now you know about Clara."_ Jack sounded sheepish. _"Sorry about that."_

"You spied on me, Jack. After everything we've been through, why couldn't you just trust me?" Rose opened the drawer on the nightstand and pulled out the two books lying inside, the _Journal of Impossible Things_ and the scrapbook she's given him for Christmas.

_"I trust you, Rose, I really do, but you were out there on your own with no backup. I just thought that another set of trained eyes keeping lookout wouldn't be such a bad thing._

"And what if the Family had taken her, instead of Joan or Mrs Sterns? They could have used that against us." She wasn't really mad at him, but he could have compromised the Doctor's safety as well as Clara's by not telling Rose that she knew more than she let on. Turning, she gently placed the books in her suitcase. She wasn't sure if he'd want them. Things like scrapbooks and journals weren't really his thing, but she still wanted them.

_"Again, I'm sorry. Let me make it up to you. Are you going to be there when we arrive?"_

Rose stood and started adding more things to her suitcase. "How far out are you?"

_"Couple of hours. We're flying a private plane, but it's still a long way from Cardiff to Colorado."_

With a sigh Rose opened her safe. "We'll probably be gone by then. The Doctor's already getting antsy." She carefully placed her jewellery, papers and the rest of the contents in her handbag. Her fingers wrapped around the flash drive John had given her for Christmas. An idea struck her. "You know what; there is something that you can do. The Doctor wrote a book while he was John. Can you make sure it's published and that the proceeds go to the town, especially to the victims' families? Clara will know the details, and the book is on a flash drive in my safe."

 _"Done deal, Rosie. I'll take care of it as well as the other stuff we talked about."_ He sighed. " _I would ask that you wait until I got there before you left, but knowing the Doc, I can't see that happening. Promise me you'll visit soon. I miss you."_

"Yeah soon, I promise. Made it a condition of going with him, lots of visits home." She paused a moment. "Take care of Clara, will you? I doubt she'll be able to keep this assignment anymore."

_"Anything you want sweetheart. I won't let her get sent to the back-a-beyond. Take care of you Rosie. Love you."_

"Same, love you too Jack. And thanks for everything. I owe you."

_"My pleasure. Talk to you soon."_

"Bye." A stray tear slid down her cheek as she rang off. She really did owe Jack big time for all his help. She'd talk to the Doctor and they make it up to him somehow. Quickly she finished putting the few things that she wanted to take with her in her bag.

There was a knocking at her door, and Rose looked up. The Doctor was standing there, now dressed in his brown pinstriped suit and white Converse. "You about ready?" He wandered over to his side of the bed.

"Just about." She zipped up her suitcase. "Now I'm ready. If there's anything else I need, we can pick up from Jack next time we visit."

"Quite right," he replied absentmindedly, picking up the laptop that he'd used while he was human. Taking out his sonic, there was a familiar whirring sound and a flash of blue light. A moment later he set it down. "There we go, memory wiped." He looked at her two small bags and blinked. "Is that all your taking?"

"Well, I've been sneaking things into my room on the TARDIS for a week now. These were just the last minute things." She slung the handbag over her shoulder.

His face fell. "Oh, back to _your_ room. I see. I was just thinking that given the change in our relationship status that maybe you would want to… Well, you know…"

"Stay in your room?" she supplied with a tongue touched grin.

He shrugged trying to look casual and failing miserably. "If you want."

"Doctor, I want. I really do. I just stored the stuff before you were back to your full self. Just sorta out of the way." She shrugged. "It won't be any trouble to move them."

His hand casually rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I just keep thinking that this is a dream or something, and that I'm going to wake up and you'll be gone, again."

"Not gonna happen, not again." She held out a hand to him. "Come on, let's go before UNIT gets here."

He started walking around the bad and then stopped. "Oh wait. I forgot something." Opening the drawer on his nightstand, he reached in and found nothing. Dropping to his knees, he looked under the bed. "Where are they? I don't want to leave them behind."

"Doctor," Rose said with a smile. "I have your journal and the scrapbook in my bag already. If that's what you're looking for."

"Good, yes, that's it." He stood up and straightened his tie. "Of course you would have packed them. You are brilliant, Rose. My brilliant Rose." Walking around to her, he grabbed her suitcase.

Rose grinned and followed him out the door. "Oh, I'm _your Rose_ am I?"

"Yep, just like I'm _your Doctor_. I always have been, by the way, ever since run." He looked over his shoulder to smile at her, and he tripped over the last stair. Somehow he managed to keep his feet under him and not fall flat out.

Rose bit her lip to stifle the laughter. "I think you have now officially taken the jeopardy friendly title from me." Grumbling words she couldn't understand, the Doctor walked over to the TARDIS and took her bag inside.

"Leaving so soon?" Clara asked, coming over with a cup of tea in hand.

"Yeah, lots of new places to see." Rose pulled her into a hug. "Take care. I'll miss you."

"Me too," Clara replied, hugging back. "It's been fun."

"That it was," Rose answered before letting go. "We'll see you around, I hope." Clara nodded and with a final wave, Rose stepped into the time and space ship.

The Doctor was already spinning around the console. "Where to first? Anytime, anyplace, your choice."

"Someplace warm," she replied, coming up beside him. "Oh, and dancing, let's go dancing."

"The things I do for you." He shook his head.

"They're worth it, if we're together." Pushing up on her tiptoes, she kissed his cheek. Then she yawned. "I should probably take a kip first. Care to join me? I can't wait to see what kind of bed a Time Lord has.

He flicked a switch moving them into the Vortex and then scooped her into his arms. "It's a waterbed if you must know, and I'm going to show you the motion of the ocean."

Giggling, she swatted his arm. "You're joking." He didn't reply, just carried her down a corridor, not stopping until he was in front of a heavy wooden door. "Please tell me you're joking," Rose pleaded.

"Course, I'm joking," he said with a wolfish grin. "It's a hammock. I hope you like to swing."


	22. Chapter 22

**~oOo~**

Jenny Tyler loved her life. Sometimes it was exciting, scary, and completely mad. Other times, like today, it was calm, fun and relaxing. So many experiences had been crammed into the four months that made up her life so far. And there wasn't one thing in it that she would change.

She got to travel the Universe with her mum and dad. They saw amazing things while making a difference. Oh, and running, she loved the running. She also got to spend time on Earth with her gran and her aunts, uncles and cousins. Even if she wasn't really related to them, they were her family.

Today hadn't been spent on the Moon or Raxacoricofallapatorius. Nope, it had been spent in London—not New London, just the original one on Earth—at Liam and Clara's wedding. There was a history between her mum and Liam that no one ever really talked about, at least not with her. It was water under the bridge, they'd say.

On their last visit to see Clara and Liam, however, Sophie had confessed that Rose had almost been her mum. She might technically only be a few months old, but she wasn't stupid. She wanted to press her parents about what Sophie had meant, but they just looked so happy.

Sitting together on the jump seat, Mum had one of their scrapbooks opened on her lap, and Dad was adding a picture of the entire family as well as a copy as the wedding invitation to a blank page. It was something that they did often after an adventure, added a page to the current scrapbook. They had two whole shelves of them in the library. Jenny didn't sleep much and loved to look at all of those pieces of her parents' happy adventures before she was created.

"Stop it," Mum chided, nudging him with her shoulder. "You act like his wedding has anything to do with us. It doesn't."

"Well," Dad started, taking the book out of her hands and setting it aside. "Let's just say that I'll sleep better at night knowing that he's not still pining over you. Happily married to someone else, that is exactly how I like Liam Donnelly, ta."

Mum rolled her eyes. "You're still jealous after all these years? The things I put up with for you."

"Not jealous," Dad huffed. "I'm just glad that Liam and Clara are happy, with each other. Of course I knew it was going to happen."

"You did not," Mum interjected. Jenny loved watching them interact like this. Even if she wasn't sure what they were talking about, their enthusiasm, joy and love were infectious.

"I did too," Dad insisted. "I saw it in her timeline before we left Colorado."

The phone on the console rang, and Jenny turned around. "I'll get it." Giggling, she picked up the receiver. "Thank you for calling your friendly neighbourhood TARDIS, this is Jenny speaking. How can I help you?" It was her standard greeting. It usually got a giggle out of whoever was on the other end of the line. Behind her dad howled with laughter, probably at something Mum said.

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. _"Sorry, this is Rose,"_ a familiar voice said. Jenny whirled around. Her mum was sitting right there next to Dad, and yet it was her voice on the phone. " _Can you just tell him that I said thank you for the necklace? I really love it, and I'll treasure it always. Gotta go."_

"Wait, what's happening, Mum…." The phone clicked off before Jenny could finish the word but she said it again anyway. "Mum?"

A small hand took the phone away from her. "I'm sorry, love," her mum said softly. "I'd almost forgotten about that. It was so very long ago for me now."

"I don't understand." Jenny said, shaking her head.

"I know." Her mum pulled her into a hug. "Come on, let's go to the library." She looked over at her husband. "Doctor, can you make us some tea and then join us?" Dad nodded and headed down the corridor.

Jenny tried to pull away, but her mum held on tighter. "What's going on?" Something about this didn't sit right.

"It's time that we tell you a story, love." Shifting, her mum wrapped an arm around Jenny's waist.

"What kind of story?" Jenny asked, her natural curiosity getting the better of her.

Her mum gave her a beaming smile. "One with a very happy ending."


End file.
